A Strand of Golden Hair
by Kayotics
Summary: Don't read this, this is a bad story. I was 14 when I wrote this. I'm just keeping it for archiving sake.
1. Kidnapped

_ This is my first fanfic. I would like some comments, but nothing like: "Your FanFic sucks and you do too! You are a mother fer and I hate you! I'd like it if you don't do that. ; _

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** Chapter One: Kidnapped **

InuYasha, the inu-hanyou, pulled out his Tetsusaiga and smirked. He had long white hair, a red kimono, claws and fangs, and cute little dog ears on top of his head that people often played with when they met him. "Do you really think that you can defeat me, demon?" he asked a scrawny looking youkai. The youkai wore rags and was greenish in color and had flabby skin, but was actually quite strong, and fast.

The youkai didn't speak, but looked at all the people around InuYasha. There was a monk, Miroku, that was holding out his right hand and held his staff in his other. He wore a purple kimono and had a cursed void in his right hand, blue eyes and also had dark hair that was pulled into a small ponytail. There was a demon-slayer, Sango, who was holding a hiriakotsu, which was a giant boomerang. She had long dark hair and it was pulled into a ponytail, and a black and pink youkai-slayer's outfit. She usually wears a pink, white and green kimono. There was a small fox youkai, Shippo, with orange hair and green eyes and looked quite frightened, and he also had a fluffy fox tail and feet. There was also a large cat youkai, Kirara, that could transform to fight and fly through the air. And last there was a young miko, Kagome, holding a bow and arrow and was wearing a school outfit. She was rather pretty and had night black hair.

The youkai ran quickly towards Kagome and picked her up easily. He ran as fast as he could away from the others and managed to make smoke to confuse them. The smoke filled the area very fast, and nothing could be seen for miles.

"Kagome!" yelled the worried hanyou. "Kagome! No!" He started to run into the smoke, but soon lost his way and couldn't smell anything but smoke. His sensitive nose soon made him sick and he fainted.

Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kirara all ran into the smoke, but lost their way like InuYasha. All they could do was take InuYasha out of the smoke and wait for it to clear. Soon InuYasha came to, but the smoke was still there. They were going to have to wait until it was gone, which might take a while.

Meanwhile, the youkai that was kidnapping Kagome kept running and she kicked and screamed as much as she could. "Let me go! Put me down right now!" Kagome said while beating on the youkai's back. She grabbed an arrow from her quiver and held it high. Kagome brought the arrow down quickly onto the youkai's head and he screamed with pain. A bright light filled the area and then a flash. The youkai deteriorated right there and Kagome fell on the ground with a loud i thump/i

Exhausted from trying to free herself, and fighting, she fell to the ground and blacked out.

Light footsteps could soon be heard, and the outline of a young woman came into view. She picked up Kagome and carried the light body towards a fairly large village as it was getting dark. Kagome was brought into a shack and put in bed with her other things.

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_ Yes, the first chapter is short, but don't worry, the fanfic is long... I've got 17 more chapters written, and I still need to write more_


	2. Powerless Hanyou

_ Well, here's Chapter 2. I decided to put this on at the same time as Chapter 1 so I can get a couple chapters done with seeing as I've got 18 done… _

**Chapter 2: Powerless Hanyou **

Kagome awoke and found herself in a small shack. It was small, about twenty-five feet long and fifteen feet wide, and had one small window that let in a surprising amount of light. When you walked in there was a kitchen to your left with all the proper utensils for cooking and a few foods to cook with. To your right there was an area for sleeping, where Kagome currently was. There were a few things here and there, and in the corner a place with one or two extra kimonos in case something happened to one of them, but near the kitchen area was a black sword that was so sharp it could easily cut your skin, just by touching it, and it was probably used for protection. On the top of the black sword was a red symbol that looked like fire, but it was in the shape of a dragon. Kagome had a light blanket over her, and her bow and arrows were at her right side.

A girl of about sixteen with a very long braid and a green kimono in the style that a miko would wear walked into the shack and started to cook. Her hair was pitch black, and she had dark brown eyes. Her hair was kept together by a light green piece of fabric that matched her kimono. She was fairly tall, almost six feet, and had large feet. She hummed while she did this and then turned around, seeing Kagome awake. "You're up! Good. That means you can eat some food," said the girl.

The girl finished making the food and gave a nice portion to Kagome, and gave herself a smaller portion. The girl sat next to Kagome and she started eating.

Not touching her food, Kagome let out a small gasp. _There's a jewel shard in her neck!_ she thought, slightly alarmed.

The girl looked up and saw the look on Kagome's face and asked, "What's the matter?"

Kagome looked at her food and bit her lip. "I-I just don't know where my friends are," she said. It wasn't a complete lie, but she wasn't exactly telling the truth either.

The girl looked off into space and said, "I don't know. You were alone when I found you. You had an arrow in your hand and looked worn-out."

"What is your name?" asked Kagome.

"I'm Kyoumi. You're lucky I found you. If you had been left out there any longer you may have been eaten by youkais," said the girl. "By the way, what is your name?"

"My name is Kagome," she said, trying to remember how she got separated from her friends. _The youkai!_ thought Kagome. _He kidnapped me! But how did this girl find me? I was out in the middle of the forest._

The two talked to each other for a while, and the morning soon turned into dusk. They talked about Kagome's friends and what they were like, and Kagome asked Kyoumi about her past. Kyoumi kept changing the subject whenever her past was brought up.

"I wonder if InuYasha will ever get here..." Kagome said to herself soon after she had some dinner.

"I'm sure he will. He sounds like a nice enough guy. It might take him a while to find you, though," Kyoumi answered.

"But he's a hanyou! He has a very good sense of smell. I am just wondering if anything is holding him back."

"Probably just can't pick up your scent," Kyoumi said, trying to sound reassuring.

"Maybe..."

Kyoumi finished putting her dishes away and froze. She heard something outside. _It's probably just a kid, but I better be safe, just in case..._ Kyoumi thought as she reached for her black sword.

Just when she grabbed it, her door was busted down and a giant sword came down to hit Kyoumi.

She pulled her own sword up and blocked the giant one just in time. It took a lot of strength, but she kept it up.

"She blocked the Tetsusaiga!" said a small child's voice.

A white-haired hanyou was in her home and attacking her!

"Let Kagome go, youkai!" yelled InuYasha.

Fear could be seen in Kyoumi's eyes, but they were soon replaced with anger. "I'm not a youkai! And Kagome is free to go any time!"

Kagome stood up quickly and yelled at the top of her lungs, "SIT!"

InuYasha fell to the floor automatically and groaned. He then got up and yelled at Kagome. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"Kyoumi never hurt me! And she isn't a youkai!" Kagome yelled back, just as loud as InuYasha.

"Yes she is! I can smell it in her blood!" InuYasha yelled back.

Everyone turned to look at Kyoumi who was looking very scared and worried. She looked at everyone carefully, Kagome's soft gaze,

InuYasha's hard glare, Sango's angered look, Miroku's questioning eyes and Shippo's odd glances at everyone.

"Well?" InuYasha said sharply.

Kyoumi sighed and looked at the ground. "I-I am a youkai."

Kagome gasped and InuYasha let out a triumphant "HA!"

"BUT-- I am not full youkai. I am a hanyou. And, I have no powers," Kyoumi said, looking at everyone like she was ashamed of herself.

"But you smell of so little human," InuYasha said, more calmly now.

"My mother was a hanyou and my father was a regular youkai. I have more demon blood than most hanyous."

"See, InuYasha? She's harmless! Be nice to her!" Kagome said to InuYasha with a sort of angered look. Kyoumi felt relived.

_She doesn't hate me because I'm a half-demon_ Kyoumi thought. She smiled weakly. Just then Miroku walked up to Kyoumi and lightly grabbed her hands.

"Miss, would you be so kind as to bear my children?" he asked. Kyoumi's face went from relief to confusion in a matter of seconds.

And just a few moments after Miroku asked her that, Sango hit him on the top of his head with her hiriakotsu. "You'll have to excuse, Miroku. He asks every pretty lady that, even if they are hanyou... Or maybe he wasn't listening... Anyway, I'm Sango. Nice to meet you," said the youkai-slayer while looking at the monk the whole time. Miroku now had a large lump on his head where Sango hit him with her weapon, and he let go of Kyoumi's hands to hold his head.

InuYasha turned towards the door and said, "We better get going. We have to find a safe place to sleep."

"You could stay here," Kyoumi suggested.

Kagome looked at InuYasha hopefully. "No, we're not staying here," InuYasha said forcefully.

"Come on! What is the matter? It's not like she's going to kill us!" Kagome yelled.

InuYasha let out a low growl, obviously tired of this and said, "There won't be a moon out tonight."

"All the more reason to stay here!" Kagome yelled. She pulled on his arm and said, "We're staying, and that's final." Her tone of voice and look on her face seemed to scare InuYasha, so he finally agreed.

"But you have to help put the door back up if you want to stay here," Kyoumi said to InuYasha.

"I'm not putting that door back up!" he yelled back at her.

The next moment he found himself stuck outside.

"You know, he should have just put the door up, instead of fighting about it," Shippo said as InuYasha walked in and put the door up with unneeded force.

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_Please leave reviews! I really want to know what you think_


	3. InuYasha's Soft Spot

_This chapter is OK. I like it. XD Anyway, this is a new chapter and I want you all to leave more reviews. I may not be able to put many more chapters up since I'm at someone else's house for a visit right now. And I should really edit those other chapters… --; And editing the document sucks. _

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**Chapter 3: InuYasha's Soft Spot **

As soon as the sun set, InuYasha's hair turned black. His dog ears were gone and his yellow eyes became brown. Kyoumi was amazed by this. InuYasha was becoming human before her very

eyes!

"Don't you _dare_ tell anyone about this! If you do, I'll kill you. I won't have any trouble doing it either, because you have youkai blood in you," warned InuYasha. Kyoumi gave her word that she wouldn't tell... She didn't realize then why it was so important.

Kyoumi felt a tad hungry, so she decided to make something for them all. She was running short on food because of the larger portions she had been making lately, but she could make due until tomorrow. She made them all tasty foods and they ate it all quickly, complementing her on her cooking.

"You are a really good cook!" Shippo exclaimed.

"You're much better at it than Kagome," InuYasha said.

"SIT!"

InuYasha plunged to the ground, getting his bowl of rice all over himself and leaving another dent in Kyoumi's floor. Kyoumi sighed and looked at her floor with a sad gaze.

"Kagome, can you try not and do that in the house?" asked Kyoumi.

Kagome blushed and nodded, looking at her bowl of rice instead of at anyone else, especially the scowling InuYasha.

"You know that hurts much more when I'm human, don't you?" InuYasha complained.

"By the way, why _is_ InuYasha human?" Kyoumi asked.

"InuYasha is a hanyou, and all hanyous turn into humans," explained Miroku. "InuYasha just so happens to turn into a human on the night when there is no moon."

"Like tonight you mean?"

"Yes."

Kyoumi looked at InuYasha and turned her head sideways, as if she were begging for food, but she then realized she was staring, and returned to eating.

"Why are you guys traveling around so much?" Kyoumi asked all of the sudden.

"We're looking for the Shikon Jewel Shards," Kagome said, brightening up. She seemed to like the idea of looking for the Jewel Shards.

"Oh, sure! Why don't you tell her everything! Why don't you tell her about my past too, and how you mess up all the time! Why don't you tell her that you get kidnapped so often, we can hardly keep track of all your kidnappers!" yelled InuYasha. He looked angry, and even more threatening than he did when he thought that Kyoumi was going to hurt Kagome.

But Kagome looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"InuYasha! All she was telling me is what you were doing! I never even asked about your past! Are you always this mean to her?" Kyoumi asked with a fierce expression.

InuYasha looked like he was trying to think of a good way to get back at Kyoumi for telling him off, but he just got up and said, "Feh. I'm sleeping outside."

Sango sat next to Kagome and comforted her, and Shippo and Miroku looked at Kagome with concerned expressions.

Kyoumi stood up and marched outside, and Kirara followed her to see what she was doing. Kyoumi saw something move on the top of her roof, and she looked up there to see InuYasha pouting.

"Why did you have to be so mean?" Kyoumi asked calmly, but with force.

"She was asking for it," he answered, looking at his feet.

"No she wasn't. No wonder people in this town don't like me. It's hanyous like you that give us all bad names," Kyoumi said with a fierce glare.

"What did they do to you?" InuYasha asked.

"What?" Kyoumi said, thoroughly confused.

"The villagers. How do they treat you?"

"Don't try and change the subject!"

"Just answer the question," InuYasha said rather calmly.

Kyoumi looked at a tree and cleared her throat. "They like to throw rocks at my head."

"But that's not all, is it? They also like to tease you, don't they? You aren't the only one who had a hard life, you know. I wasn't exactly treated like a nobleman myself," InuYasha said. He sat up and looked at Kyoumi carefully. "I'm going to go back inside and apologize to Kagome," InuYasha said suddenly. He jumped off the roof and walked towards the door, but stopped before he went in. "Just so you know, I'm usually only this nice when I'm human. And I usually don't apologize to people when I'm human or youkai."

Kyoumi watched InuYasha walk inside, and heard a few muffled voices. Kirara soon followed InuYasha in, meowing to Kyoumi before she left. The single candle lighting the shack went out, and Kyoumi was left in darkness, besides the light coming from the stars. About a half hour after everyone but InuYasha went to sleep, Kyoumi walked back inside and thought about what InuYasha told her.

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The morning light woke Kyoumi before everyone else, and the first thing she saw was the sleeping InuYasha, his white hair and all. He had returned to normal at the first sign of day, and once he was demon, he decided that he could sleep. She started making breakfast for them all, and slowly each one stirred. InuYasha woke first at the smell of breakfast, and he looked quite happy to have gotten some rest.

After everyone woke up and had their breakfast, InuYasha stood up.

"We should leave now, so we can see if we can find a Jewel Shard," said InuYasha. Kagome seemed to be avoiding anyone's gaze so she wouldn't have to talk to anyone. She didn't want to tell them that Kyoumi had a Jewel Shard, and she was still kinda angry at InuYasha. She didn't know what Kyoumi's Jewel Shard was for. It could be to keep her alive, or to heal her wounds faster. If she told InuYasha, he would go berserk!

The group got up and got ready to leave, and they soon left the small shack. They said goodbye to Kyoumi and thanked her for her hospitality, and walked down the path. Not a quarter-mile away, Kyoumi stopped them, carrying her sword in it's hilt and a small bag of money hidden in her pants.

"Kagome," called out Kyoumi. All of them turned around except InuYasha.

"Yes?" she answered, wondering what Kyoumi would want with them.

"Can I travel with you?" she asked, trying to hide her excitement.

Before anyone could answer, InuYasha turned around to face her and said, "Yeah, you can. We could use another fighter around here, considering that Shippo is useless."

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_ Thanks for all the reviews! (even if there is only two of them!)_


	4. History Lesson

_I'm putting up two chapters today. Woo! I also am really bored... So... Yeah. Hope you like chapters 4 and 5_

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**Chapter 4: History Lesson**

The next week and a half proved that Kyoumi was an excellent addition to the team. She wasn't the fastest, or the strongest, or the smartest. She couldn't even jump as high as Miroku or Sango. But she had a little bit of everything. She was brave in battle, she wouldn't hold back, and she wasn't one to quit. It was a good choice on InuYasha's part to let her come with them.

But she soon became curious of why she was helping them. What were they doing by killing all of these youkais? What were they trying to accomplish? And why did Miroku keep his hand covered up? It sure as hell wasn't to protect his hand from girl's asses.

Kyoumi soon found herself trying to figure these answers out for herself, but her answers always became demented and confusing.

On the 10th day of Kyoumi traveling with the small group, she was greeted at breakfast with some... odd news.

"I'm going to go home for about three days," Kagome said during the middle of breakfast. "I have to take a test, and I really want to do well on this. It might mean me passing the grade or not."

InuYasha looked mad, Sango, Miroku and Shippo didn't seem to care, but Kyoumi was just confused.

"Kyoumi, do you want to come with me?" asked Kagome.

"Uh... Sure, I guess... Where are we going?" she answered, still confused.

"You can't leave now, Kagome! We have to find the Jewel shards!" yelled InuYasha.

"I'm leaving, no matter what you say," Kagome said, closing the subject for further discussion.

But InuYasha wouldn't drop it. "You aren't going!"

"Yes I am!"

"No you aren't!"

"SIT!"

Kagome stood up and Kyoumi did the same, following Kagome down a path that looked worn and rugged.

"I bet you're wondering what I was talking about back there, weren't you?" Kagome asked.

Kyoumi nodded.

"I live 500-years in the future. That's why I wear such strange clothes. I'm not from here," Kagome said. "My test is for school, which is where I learn things that I need to get a job and stuff in my time. How I get to my time, is through a well."

"A _well_?" Kyoumi asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes, a well. I need a Sacred Jewel Shard to go through it."

"Speaking of the Sacred Jewel... Why are we collecting the shards?"

"If a youkai gets his hands on even one shard, he can multiply his power in great amounts. Just think what will happen to a youkai that gets the whole Jewel! But, the Jewel wasn't shattered before. I broke it with an arrow. And now youkais can get the shards and become more powerful. And there is one youkai that we are especially trying to get it away from. Naraku. He has done so many horrible things to people that if he got the whole Jewel, he could take over Japan. And he almost has all of it right now."

Once Kagome finished her story, they were almost to the well. Kyoumi pondered over this new information, and decided to ask Kagome later on what kind of things Naraku did.

They soon reached the well and Kyoumi looked into it, not impressed in the least. "That's it? That's the well that brings you to your time?"

"The remains of youkais were thrown in there, so it is called the Bone-Eater's Well. The youkai remains probably give it it's power," Kagome said, putting her foot on the well.

Kyoumi looked over the side of the well, and lost her balance. She fell into the well, but instead of hitting the ground, she felt like she was still falling! She opened her eyes and saw a vast area that went on forever, and was multiple colors of purple, and a few other colors as well.

Back in the Feudal Era, Kagome gasped and realized the Jewel shard in Kyoumi's neck allowed her to pass through the well. Kagome jumped in and tried to go as fast as she could, so she could catch up with Kyoumi.

Kyoumi landed in the bottom of the well and stood up, unable to keep her balance for very long. She held onto the wall and looked above her, seeing dark wood. _What happened? Where am I?_ Kyoumi asked herself as she started to climb to the top of the well. Kagome landed soon after her and sighed.

"Kyoumi, are you all right?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah... Where are we?" she replied.

"This is my time. Well, since you are here, I might as well show you around," Kagome said, climbing up the side of the well. She got to the top and led Kyoumi outside, and turned around. "This is Higurashi Shrine. My family has been caring for this shrine for generations," Kagome said.

Kyoumi saw an amazing sight. There were small, multicolored, shiny wagons without horses on the road, traveling very fast. There was a large tree and a house, and a few other random things here and there.

"Kyoumi, follow me to my house. I'll introduce you to my family," Kagome said as she walked quickly to a large building nearby.

Kagome walked inside and Kyoumi followed, and she soon found herself in the largest house she had ever seen. "You live like noblemen! Are you sure you aren't rich?" Kyoumi asked as she took a few steps forward. She looked at all the bright colors and at the comfy furniture. She saw a glimpse of the lovely kitchen and the nice dining room. She noticed the stairs and was amazed that this was a two-story house.

Kagome looked around and then yelled out, "Grandpa! Sota! Mom! I'm home! And I have company!" Just as soon as she finished saying that a small boy ran down the stairs in his pajamas and he rubbed sleep from his eyes.

"Wow! Who's this Kagome? Is she one of your friends from the well? She's pretty," Sota said with a smile. Kyoumi blushed at the complement.

Kagome's mom walked in from the kitchen wearing her pajamas also and holding a cup of coffee. "It's nice to see someone other than InuYasha in the house. Not that I don't like him. It's good to see new faces. Kagome, Jii-chan is out somewhere taking care of some errands," Kagome's mom said with a sleepy-faced smile.

"Sota, Mom, this is Kyoumi. She has just started to travel with us," Kagome said. She looked at Sota carefully and asked, "Why aren't you dressed?"

"It's Sunday. And Mom has two weeks off," Sota said, stifling a yawn.

Kyoumi had walked over to the kitchen while they were conversing, and was followed in by Kagome's mom. Kyoumi was amazed by the kitchen. She loved cooking, and did it often for InuYasha and the others. She opened her mouth in awe from the kitchen.

"Your kitchen is lovely, Miss. I would love to cook here. It's so pretty, and it has so many utensils!" Kyoumi said, turning to beam at Kagome's mom.

"Yes, it is a nice kitchen. Probably much nicer than what you are used to, no offense meant. Unfortunately, I have a hard time finding time to cook with the shrine and my job," said Ms. Higurashi.

"Oh! Could I cook once? You'll have to teach me how to use the odd contraptions, but I think I could manage it," Kyoumi said with a wide smile.

"Sure! You could cook us dinner if you want. I'll teach you how to use the stove and such right now," said Kagome's mom, ushering Kyoumi over to the stove.

Kagome saw her mom and Kyoumi in the kitchen and smiled. "I'm glad mom has warmed up to Kyoumi so quickly. It's a good thing too, because I think going through the well really scared Kyoumi, and she won't want to go through it again any time soon," Kagome said to herself.

Kagome went upstairs to study and Kyoumi continued to learn how to use the stove and other things in the kitchen, practicing with them and seeing what they could do. Soon enough it was time for dinner and Kagome was starving. She hadn't eaten since the small breakfast that morning.

Kagome's mom sat at the table holding a book as Kagome walked in.

"Weren't you supervising Kyoumi?" Kagome asked.

"Oh, no, she knew it all by heart after I told it all to her! You should have seen what she could do with a knife though! She looks like a very good cook," said Kagome's mom.

"I think she had to feed herself when she was younger. She didn't have any parents at her home when we met her," Kagome said as she took a seat across from her mom.

Sota came in the kitchen and took a seat next to his mother, and he picked up Buyo from the floor and started to scratch him in his lap. Not too soon after, the door opened and Kagome's grandpa, Jii-chan, walked in with a bag of groceries.

"The market was packed today! I couldn't get anything I wanted because of everyone pushing and shoving! It was horrible!" yelled Jii-chan as he took his seat at the table, not noticing Kagome. "What's for dinner? I'm starving."

Kagome's mom shrugged and said, "I didn't cook tonight."

"Who did then?"

"My friend," Kagome said.

Jii-chan turned towards Kagome and smiled. "Kagome! I didn't see you there!" he said, and pulled her into a hug. Once he released her he said, "Who's your friend? Are your friends from school here?"

Kagome shook her head. "You'll have to wait and see," Kagome said as she got up to help Kyoumi in the kitchen.

A few minutes later Kagome brought out some plates and chopsticks, and some silverware. She went back in the kitchen and came out of the kitchen carrying a wonderful looking platter of vegetables and another plate of special rice with a hint of lemon. Kyoumi walked in behind her and carried a wonderful plate of teriyaki chicken with some other wonderful meats as well.

"Who is this Kagome?" asked her grandpa.

"My name is Kyoumi," she said as she put the chicken on the table and took a seat at the end of the table.

"That is Jii-chan," Kagome said, dishing up some food.

They ate well that night and everyone seemed happy at dinner, and the talk was very pleasant. Kagome's family asked Kyoumi a few questions about living in the Feudal era and she answered them happily, wondering if everyone was this polite.

Once they finished their meal, Kagome showed Kyoumi upstairs and showed Kyoumi her room. It was pink and had a desk littered with school papers and other things of the sort. It also had a large fluffy bed that was very comfortable.

"You can sleep here, with me. I'll let you sleep on the bed, because I need to study anyway. You know what? You should take a bath. I'll show you how to use the bathtub," Kagome said. She led Kyoumi to the bathroom and taught her how to make a bath for herself. She went to get Kyoumi some clothes so she could sleep easier. Kagome then left the bathroom and shut the door to let Kyoumi take her time.

Kagome went back in her room and started on her studies. Not soon after though, she heard something at her window. She turned and saw InuYasha.

"What are you doing here!" Kagome asked, surprised to see him in her window.

"When Kyoumi didn't come back, I came to check if she was here," InuYasha said.

"Were you worried about her?"

"No!" InuYasha said a little to quickly.

"It's OK if you were. It doesn't matter. That just shows that you consider her a friend, just like Sango or Miroku," Kagome said with a smug look on her face.

"Shut up!" InuYasha yelled at Kagome. He blushed and looked at the floor.

Sota turned up at the door to Kagome's room and saw InuYasha in the window, and he smiled. "Hi InuYasha! I met Kyoumi. She's a good cook! Do you like her cooking?"

InuYasha glanced sideways at Kagome and answered, "Y-yes..." He flinched a little bit, like he was expecting Kagome to sit him.

"InuYasha, are you going to stay here? Kyoumi will probably stay here with me until I go back through the well," Kagome said, turning back to her books.

"Yeah, I might. I'll stay here tonight at least. Maybe a bit longer," InuYasha said as he looked outside.

A door then opened in the hallway, shining light into it, and a bunch of steam went into the hall.

Kyoumi stood at the door, looking better than ever. She wore a black tank top and a pair of thin, navy blue pajama pants. Her hair was long and silky, and it was the first time that any of them had seen her hair down. It almost reached the floor, but stopped right above her ankles, and it looked even darker than before, if that was even possible. It was cut straight, unlike Kagome's, and it had a small wave to it from being in a braid for so long.

Sota looked at her and gaped, his mouth open wide. He found her very pretty.

"Hi InuYasha. How are you?" Kyoumi asked with a smile. Her eyes looked surprisingly bright after she took a bath. She smelled very nice too.

"I'm fine..." InuYasha said, still looking at Kyoumi.

"That's good. I thought something was wrong since you came all the way here," Kyoumi said.

"Oh, that's right. I wanted to talk to you about something too. Let's go outside and take a walk," InuYasha said.

Kyoumi nodded and went downstairs. She opened the door and found InuYasha standing in front of her.

She walked outside and followed him to the lone tree on the shrine grounds.

"I think you should know about my past," said InuYasha. He sat down with his back against the tree. "Not because you asked or anything, but because you are a half-demon. That's why. Usually someone else tells someone about my past, but you already know the day when I become human, so why not know a bit more about me."

"Why do you want to tell me this stuff?" Kyoumi asked.

"I don't know. I don't think of you as someone who is a friend. I think of you as family," InuYasha said. He thought about Sesshoumaru and added, "As family on good terms."

Kyoumi sat down next to InuYasha, and he started off with Kikyo, and the Sacred tree that they sat next to, and him being stuck to it. He then went to Kagome shattering the Shikon Jewel and to Naraku and all his horrible deeds that he did to InuYasha and Kikyo. He didn't want to tell her everything, so he left out the part that he fell in love with Kikyo, but it was hard for him to keep his eyes from looking sad and soft. He also didn't tell her about Miroku and Sango's pasts, or Shippo's because he didn't want to stay out here for hours, even though he did kill one talking.

"Naraku sounds like a horrible demon," Kyoumi said.

"He's only a hanyou," InuYasha said.

"What?"

"He was a the human, Onigumo, who sold his body to demons."

"Wow... Oh, we better get back. Kagome is probably tired and wants to go to sleep."

InuYasha nodded and picked Kyoumi up. She gave a small yelp, but she quieted down soon enough. He jumped over to Kagome's window and jumped inside, setting Kyoumi on the floor. Kagome had fallen asleep on her books, and Kyoumi was about to fall asleep too. Good thing she was in the comfortable clothes that Kagome gave her.

* * *

_That chapter was to get Kyoumi to learn about InuYasha's past. As you can see, InuYasha is much nicer to Kyoumi seeing as she IS a half-demon._


	5. Time for School

_I like this chapter better than the last one. At the end of the last chapter I kinda zoned out and didn't have very good writing... oO; Oh well... I like the next chapter a lot too._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Time for School**

Kyoumi woke up in an empty room and walked downstairs. Her hair was a bit messy, but it was still silky and shiny. When she walked into the kitchen she could smell an unfamiliar smell, but it smelt good. She sat at the table next to Kagome, who was reading a book, and yawned.

"Good morning, Kyoumi," said Kagome's mom as she walked in with a plate of bacon, eggs and toast. She set the plate in front of Kagome and said, "Your breakfast is almost ready. It'll be about two minutes."

Kagome didn't even look away from her book, but ate her food while reading.

InuYasha came down the stairs just as Kyoumi got her food. "InuYasha! I didn't realize you were here! Do you want some breakfast?"

InuYasha nodded and took a seat next to Kyoumi, who was eating her food happily.

"Where where you?" Kyoumi asked InuYasha.

"I slept in Sota's room. He didn't mind," InuYasha answered.

Kagome set her book down and looked at Kyoumi. "Kyoumi, I was wondering if you wanted to come to school with me tomorrow," Kagome said. "I'm sure I can get my grandpa to call the school and see if you can come."

"Why does she get to go?" yelled InuYasha.

"Because she doesn't have dog ears, and she can fit in easily, even with that long hair," Kagome said, calmly looking at InuYasha. She was still half-asleep, and wasn't willing to get into an argument right now.

"Are you saying I look weird!"

"No, but to other people you would. White hair and dog ears aren't normal here, or anywhere for that matter," Kagome answered.

"Can't I wear a cap?"

"They don't allow hats in school. Well, Kyoumi, what do you say?" Kagome said, finishing the fight.

"Sure, if it's OK that is," Kyoumi said with a smile.

InuYasha was moody the rest of the day.

By dinner, Kagome had asked her grandpa if he could call the school and ask if Kagome could bring a "cousin" along because they were visiting. Kagome's grandpa called and got permission for a guest, but Kyoumi was going to have to wear a uniform.

Kyoumi took another bath that night to make herself look nice for her first and only day of school. She wanted to make a good impression.

They went to bed, Kagome studying and telling Kyoumi a few things about school, and also reading out-loud from the book. Kyoumi barely understood any of it. At least she was able to write.

The next morning Kagome got Kyoumi a uniform to wear and went downstairs to have breakfast, leaving Kyoumi to dress herself.

Kyoumi met them downstairs and looked better than she did the first night she took a bath. Kagome smiled and offered Kyoumi a plate of food, but she could hardly eat anything because she was so nervous. InuYasha sulked in a corner.

"Kyoumi, I want you to stay with Kagome at all times," said Kagome's mom right before they left, getting a few snarls out of Kyoumi's hair.

"Don't worry. I will," Kyoumi said, wincing a bit at the brush.

"Mom, we have to go now. We'll be late if we don't," Kagome said.

"Oh, right," said Kagome's mom as she pulled the brush out of Kyoumi's hair.

Kagome put on her backpack and opened the door quickly. She started to run, and Kyoumi followed, trying to look at everything as she ran, seeing all the odd sites and such. Kagome stopped at a street corner and waited for Kyoumi to catch up.

"How far is this school?" Kyoumi asked.

"Not too far. We wouldn't be walking if it was too far away. We would take a bus," Kagome answered.

Kyoumi was obviously confused, but she didn't question anything Kagome said. In about 15 minutes they reached the school by running, and saw many of Kagome's classmates. Eri, Ayumi and Yuka ran up to Kagome as soon as they saw her.

"Kagome! You're back!" said Eri once they got to her.

"We were so worried about you!" Yuka added. "You've had so many horrible things happen to you! Did your leukemia test results come back yet?"

"I'm so happy you're here! I'm glad you made it for this test," Ayumi said. "Who's that next to you?"

Kagome blushed slightly at all the questions and said, "This is my friend Kyoumi. She's my... uh... cousin! Kyoumi, this is Eri, Yuka and Ayumi, some of my friends."

Kyoumi blushed and looked at the ground, holding her hands together.

"Wow! Your hair is so pretty!" Ayumi said.

"It's so long, too!" exclaimed Eri.

"How do you keep it like that?" Yuka asked.

Kyoumi looked at Yuka and said in a quiet voice, "I usually keep my hair in a braid..."

_I didn't realize Kyoumi was so shy! Maybe it's because my friends are so loud?_ Kagome thought to herself. Kagome heard a bell and said, "Oh! We better get to class. Come on, Kyoumi. I'll show you where to go."

Kagome grabbed Kyoumi's hand and practically dragged her inside the school. They both ran as fast as they could to Kagome's class.

Kagome and Kyoumi were one of the last people there, but they managed to get desks next to each other.

"We're having a test today, so get your pencils ready," said the teacher in a bland voice that threatened to put you to sleep. The teacher walked around, passing out papers. Once she handed the last of them out she walked to the front and said, "You have until lunch to finish them. You may begin."

Kagome concentrated as hard as she could, and managed to get decent answers from most of the questions. _I'm glad I came here two days early! I managed to get a lot of studying in,_ thought Kagome as she answered another question correctly.

Kyoumi wasn't doing nearly as well, mainly because she hadn't had any years of schooling, unlike Kagome. She could hardly read the questions, let alone understand them.

Then a bell rang and everyone started to leave, handing their tests in as they went. Kagome stood up, having just finished her test, and got Kyoumi. She saw that Kyoumi had only answered one of the questions, and it was wrong. She also saw a bunch of doodles on the paper.

Kagome handed in her own test and crumpled up Kyoumi's throwing it in the garbage as they passed.

"Let's go to lunch!" Kagome said brightly, glad to have someone who wouldn't bug her about her "boyfriend" all the time.

"OK, I'm starving," answered Kyoumi, happy to have finally gotten out of that room.

They went to the lunch room and ate quickly, and once they were finished they went to wander the halls for a bit.

The crowded hall had joyous sounds, and happy people, but then screams and two gunshots froze everyone and made the air still. People dropped on the floor and covered their heads, hoping not to get shot by a boy with a gun in his hands.

---

InuYasha sat at Kagome's home playing with Buyo on the couch and laughing. Kagome's mom was watching a local channel and then a loud beeping went on.

"Agh! What is that noise?" InuYasha yelled.

_"Important news: a local school is now being kept hostage by a young boy with a gun. There is no known deaths or injuries right now, but there is a large chance that there will be. All shows have been canceled to bring you live coverage of the school,"_ said a woman on the TV. Kagome's mom gasped.

"That's Kagome's school!" she yelled, tears coming to her eyes.

"WHAT!" yelled InuYasha. He immediately got up and ran through the door, running as fast as he could to the school that Kagome went to.

* * *

_How exciting! Roar. A gun... Wait for the next chapter to see what happens! XD I'm so nice to Kagome and Kyoumi, aren't I?_


	6. Gunned Down

_Chapter six! Ooh, how will Kagome and Kyoumi get out of this one? Or WILL they? Yeah, they will._

* * *

**Chapter 6: Gunned Down**

Kagome and Kyoumi were on the floor, trying to look invisible with the rest of the crowd. Everyone's breathing was scarce, and you could hear a pin drop. Kyoumi had no idea what a gun could do, but she knew it was bad since everyone was so scared.

A loud crash startled everyone, and a blur of red came into the building.

"InuYasha," whispered Kagome.

"Who are you?" asked the kid, holding out the gun with a steady hand.

"Your worst nightmare," answered InuYasha. He cracked his knuckles and pulled out his sword, transforming it into it's true form. People gasped and looked at the hanyou and human, wondering which to be more afraid of.

"InuYasha! You can't!" yelled out Kagome before she could stop herself.

InuYasha glimpsed back for one second and then a loud noise went through the hall. The kid had pulled the trigger on the gun. The bullet hit barely hit InuYasha in the arm, but it was enough for him to be seriously hurt.

_What? What is that? Is that what a gun does? It barely hit me but it went right through my arm!_ thought InuYasha.

Kagome looked at InuYasha with worry written all over her face. She looked around and saw a door labeled _Sports Supplies_. Kagome's face lit up as she got an idea.

"Kyoumi, slowly go around to the boy's back. After I get rid of his weapon, you grab hold of him," said Kagome in a whisper. Kyoumi nodded and started to slowly crawl to the boy's backside while Kagome reached for the closet door.

InuYasha couldn't hurt the kid, but he had to do something. If he didn't, that boy was going to hurt innocent people, and maybe Kagome. He couldn't let that happen.

"SIT!"

InuYasha plunged to the floor and the boy turned to see Kagome holding a bow and arrow. She pulled the arrow back and let it go, and it headed straight for the boy. He didn't move at all, but the arrow didn't hit him.

It hit the gun.

The gun cracked much like the Shikon Jewel did, and it fell to the floor in thousands of pieces. Before the boy could move, Kyoumi came up behind him and grabbed his arms with her own and held him in place. A few of the students got up and went outside to inform the authorities that the boy who had the gun was captured.

InuYasha grabbed a kid on the floor and pulled him up by his collar. "Hold this boy until someone comes in to get him," InuYasha said, and the boy held the one who had the gun, and Kyoumi walked away from him.

Kagome ran up to InuYasha and asked, "Are you OK? How hurt are you? We should go home right now!"

InuYasha nodded and told Kagome to get on his back. He grabbed Kyoumi by her waist and jumped through the window that he came in from.

Eri, Ayumi and Yuka stood together and watched Kagome leave in awe.

"Do you think that's Kagome's violently jealous boyfriend?" Ayumi asked.

The three looked at each other and said in unison, "No way!"

---

InuYasha dropped Kyoumi in front of the door and Kagome got off of InuYasha's back. They went inside quickly and Kagome told InuYasha to sit down.

"Kagome! You're OK!" exclaimed Kagome's mom as she hugged her daughter tightly and wiped the tears from her face.

"I am, but InuYasha's not. I have to get the First Aid kit, so, please, let go," Kagome said as she pushed herself away from her mother, trying not to hurt her feelings in the process.

"Of course! Sorry," said Kagome's mom as she sat down on the couch to check the news.

Kagome came back shortly with a first aid box. She told InuYasha to take his arm out of his sleeve so she could fix it easier.

Kagome pulled up a chair next to InuYasha and sprayed his wound with disinfectant and then heavily covered it in bandages.

As Kagome did that, her mother watched the TV, and Kyoumi listened to it, while trying to figure out what it was.

_"There was a shooting today at one of the local schools, but luckily, no one was killed. According to students, only one was injured, but he left before officials could assist him. They have gotten a name for the boy who brought the gun, but will not tell us that information at the moment. He seemed to be a new person, since no one recognizes him. Now we will listen to an eyewitness report,"_ said the news lady on TV.

Then a boy with scruffy looking hair around Kagome's age came on screen, looking excited. _"There was this guy with a big sword and white hair that came through the window, and then it looked like he was gonna chop the kid's head off, but a girl yelled out a name and told him not to. Then he looked back and the kid shot his arm, but I think he was aiming for his heart. Then the same girl told the guy with the big sword to sit, and for some reason he fell to the ground, and the girl who told him to sit was holding a bow and arrow, and then she shot it at the gun and broke it. Then a girl with really, really long hair grabbed him and held him there. Then the guy with the big sword told a kid to hold onto the other kid, and he grabbed the two chicks and went out the window again. That guy was lucky. Those two chicks were hot,"_ said the boy on TV, making the story much shorter than it was. Kagome's mother thought that he talked horribly and used too many 'and then's.

The news lady came back on the screen and said, _"However bizarre this story is, it seems to be true. There are multiple accounts of the white haired man and two school girls stopping the boy. We have managed to get names of the girls. A girl named Kagome Higurashi and a girl named Kyoumi. No last name was available for Kyoumi. The school has given us a tape from the security cameras in the school. Let's watch."_

Kagome's mom watched the clip in awe, but then turned the TV off and sighed.

"I guess I should be happy you're safe, but now I'm kind of upset. Do you know how many people are going to be coming here?" she said, holding her head in her hands.

Kagome looked startled. "But Mom, we didn't think about that! And wouldn't it be good advertising for the shrine?"

Kagome's mom chuckled. "I know it's not your fault. I was talking about the news. I'm glad that you guys are OK, and I'm very proud of you for getting rid of that gun. But I'm very angry at the school. If they can afford security cameras, why don't they have metal detectors? Or guards? Or something to protect the students!"

Not a few minutes later, cars pulled up and people poured out of them, trying to get to talk with Kagome.

"InuYasha! Get upstairs! In my room. We can't let anyone see you," she said, pulling him out of the chair roughly on his good arm. He got up and went up the stairs angry, wishing that he could be the center of attention.

Kagome had some of InuYasha's blood on her clothes, but she didn't care, she just wanted to get rid of the crowd.

"Mom, how do we get rid of them?" Kagome asked, looking desperate.

"You could go as fast as you could to the well, but you'd have to bring InuYasha too. He could probably carry you, like he did to get you here," Kagome's mom suggested.

Kagome ran up to her room and yelled for Kyoumi to come up there too.

When Kyoumi got into the room Kagome was wearing a yellow backpack and already climbing onto InuYasha's back, telling him to go as fast as he could into the well. He went over to Kyoumi and grabbed her by her waist so he could bring her along too.

"You know, this is really uncomfortable!" Kyoumi yelled as InuYasha jumped out of the window and right to the building with the well. He rushed inside and jumped down the well, ignoring Kyoumi's protests.


	7. An Old Friend

_The new chapter! Woo! I'll try and update daily now, since I've finished the fanfiction and it has many chapters... This chapter is a little shorter..._

* * *

**Chapter 7: An Old Friend**

InuYasha jumped out of the well and started to run to Kaede's Village. He had told Sango and Miroku to stay there with Shippo.

Kyoumi hadn't been to Kaede's Village yet, even though she went to the well. They had come from another direction.

InuYasha sped through the forest, wanting to get to Kaede's house because of his arm. Then Kagome could tend to it some more. It had started to hurt. Just as InuYasha was starting to get impatient, and Kyoumi had started squirming again, he saw Kaede's village and slowed down a bit. He entered Kaede's house and put Kyoumi down, who was still in the school clothes Kagome had lent her.

As Kagome got off of InuYasha, Sango said, "Who's that with- oh Kami. Is that you, Kyoumi? You look so different without your braid! And in those clothes..."

Kyoumi looked down at her clothes and blushed a deep red. She gasped and turned to Kagome, saying, "I forgot my clothes at your house!"

Kagome smiled and pulled the the backpack off and said, "No problem! I brought them with me. And I'll braid your hair later if you like, after you change."

Kyoumi smiled and took the green kimono that Kagome had pulled out of the backpack and started to walk outside, to change in the forest.

"Maybe I should help you?" Miroku said, raising his hand.

_THWAP_

Miroku had a big red mark on his face, and Sango massaged her hand a little bit.

Kyoumi came back after a few minutes and looked around the house a little bit. "Who's place is this?" she asked while looking at the walls.

"This is my home," said an old lady coming through the doors holding medicinal herbs in her hands. Kyoumi turned around and her eyes widened. "I am the miko Kaede. Who might ye be?"

Kyoumi blushed a little bit and said, "I am Kyoumi, lady Kaede."

Kaede nodded and walked over to a spot on the floor near the fire pit.

"Kagome, can you help me with my arm? It hurts," complained InuYasha as he took his arm out of his sleeve so Kagome could look at it.

She sighed and walked over to InuYasha, unwrapping the wound.

It was scabby and bloody, and had a small infection to it already. The skin around the wound was red and had much dried blood on it, and it looked like it only just been barely covered up with a scab.

"What happened!" Miroku said as he gazed at the wound in disgust.

"InuYasha was hit with a bullet. In this time, guns were just brought here recently. Do you remember seeing them?" Kagome said, taking out a new bandage and some disinfectant. She sprayed InuYasha's arm and he winced, looking at his arm painfully. She wrapped the wound tightly and made sure it stayed by pulling on it a little bit.

"InuYasha, you should get some rest... OK?" Kagome said with a sad expression on her face. She watched him go over to a corner and sit, yawning before he went to sleep.

---

In the morning InuYasha was feeling much better, Kyoumi had her hair braided, and Kagome was happier. They had decided to go and search for the Sacred Jewel.

They walked along the road, Kagome searching for any stray Jewel Shards, and suddenly InuYasha stopped. He sniffed the air, and growled.

"Naraku."

Kagome gasped and looked around, trying to sense any jewel shards.

InuYasha looked up and saw a large feather in the sky, and it was coming down fast.

A woman with red eyes and a pink and white fan stood in front of them. She had a kimono that matched her fan and feathers in her hair that was put up in a bun. She was smirking, but didn't look happy to be doing what she was supposed to.

"Kagura!" yelled InuYasha. He drew his Tetsusaiga and it transformed into it's larger form. His facial expression expressed pure loathing.

"Don't worry mutt. I'm not here to fight you. I'm here to pick something up," said Kagura as she brought her fan up. She brought it down and yelled, "Dance of Blades!"

Large blades of wind were sent towards InuYasha, Kagome and Shippo and InuYasha jumped in front of Kagome and put his sword out to protect them. Kagura sent another wave of wind towards Miroku and Sango, and Kagura ran over to Kyoumi and grabbed her by the collar. She then grabbed a feather from her hair and threw it down, and jumped on the large feather that had appeared. Kagura went flying in the air and she looked down at Kyoumi, scowling.

Kyoumi grabbed her black sword and took a swipe at Kagura's arm, but even though it cut deep, it only cut it a little bit compared to what she was going to do. Kagura grabbed the sword and threw it to the ground.

"Damn you! I don't know why Naraku finds you so important. You're just a nuisance!" yelled Kagura as she rubbed the injured arm a bit, while still holding onto Kyoumi's collar and holding her halfway over the edge of her feather.

---

InuYasha took his sword and put it back in it's hilt.

"Damn! She took Kyoumi!" yelled InuYasha.

"Why would she want to take her, though?" Sango asked.

"Yeah, it's not like she is anything special, right?" added Shippo.

InuYasha turned to Kagome and asked, "What is it?"

Kagome was red in the face and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"She has a jewel shard in the back of her neck!"

* * *

_Ohh! The truth is finally out! What will happen to Kyoumi? You'll have to wait to find out!_


	8. Kyoumi's Past

_This chapter is also short, but it explains quite a bit. It kinda has to be in there, so this is one of those filler/important chapters._

* * *

**Chapter 8: Kyoumi's Past**

Kagura had trouble holding onto Kyoumi, and when she was a couple of feet over the castle grounds, she was glad to let her go.

A deep and menacing voice said, "Kagura, go and protect the castle. If InuYasha comes, tell him what will happen if he breaks the barrier."

Kagura scowled and flew up into the sky, on the other side of the castle barrier.

The same voice chuckled softly and said, "So, I see you've come, Kyoumi."

"Who are you? Show yourself!" yelled Kyoumi, wishing she had her sword right now.

A figure in a white fur cloak and a baboon mask came from the castle.

"I am Naraku."

"What do you want with me? I haven't done anything!" Kyoumi said, her heart pounding furiously.

"You have something that I think I should have. A shard of the Sacred Shikon Jewel."

Kyoumi was stunned. Her face was stuck in an expression of confusion and surprise. Finally, she was able to say, "I-I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Of course you don't. It was planted in the back of your neck on the night before you became sixteen without your knowledge," Naraku said, probably smirking underneath that baboon mask.

"Who planted it there?" she asked, still scowling at him, and still confused.

"I did."

"What!" Kyoumi said, surprised now.

"I put the Jewel Shard in your neck to stop you from gaining your powers. I knew that if you got your powers, you would be able to oppose me if you joined up with InuYasha. I couldn't take that chance," said Naraku, his voice holding a certain air to it that made him sound happy.

"And what made you think I would join up with InuYasha?" Kyoumi asked, getting aggravated by all his answers that didn't really answer her questions.

"I was the one who killed your mother."

Those words stung Kyoumi like a whip. She couldn't take this. "No," whispered Kyoumi, so quiet that it was inaudible.

---

InuYasha ran as fast as he could with Kagome on her back. Miroku ran next to him, and Sango and Shippo were on Kirara. "InuYasha! What's that?" said Kagome, pointing to something glimmering in the sunlight.

InuYasha slowed to a stop and Shippo got to the ground. It was Kyoumi's sword.

"This is Kyoumi's! She must have dropped it!" Shippo exclaimed as he touched the side of the sword, knowing he wasn't nearly tall enough to grab the handle and yank it out of the ground.

Instead, Sango grabbed it out of the ground.

InuYasha looked ahead and saw a few small pools of blood. "Kyoumi must have dropped her sword trying to hack Kagura to pieces," he said, sniffing the air. "Yeah, that's definitely Kagura's blood."

"Then we should keep following her trail, and bring the sword back to Kyoumi," said Sango, holding the sharp sword carefully. It was the sharpest sword that she had ever held before, all hers were duller than Kyoumi's, and weren't made nearly as well. A pang of jealousy went through her as she looked at the sword carefully.

Shippo jumped back onto Kirara and they set off at full speed, trying to get to Kyoumi as soon as possible.

Soon they saw a castle with a red barrier around it, but they also saw Kagura looking bored.

"It's about time," Kagura said as InuYasha and the others stopped. There was blood running down the arm that had taken a hold of Kyoumi's kimono.

"You guys distract her, I'm going to break the barrier. I'm sure that Kyoumi is behind there," InuYasha said as he drew his Tetsusaiga. He concentrated on the barrier and soon the Tetsusaiga was glowing red.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kagura said as she put her fan up. "If you break the barrier, your friend will be killed."

"Damn," muttered the hanyou, turning towards Kagura. "Well then, I'll just have to kill you!" said InuYasha as he raised his sword.

"Wind Scar!" he said, bringing his sword down and sending a wave of power that could kill 100 demons. Kagura's eyes widened and the Wind Scar hit her, causing her to scream loudly.

When the sword stopped it's powerful attack, Kagura slowly got up and grabbed a feather from her hair. She flew away, badly injured and torn up.

Kagome ran towards the barrier and put her hands up against it, looking through it, trying to see any movement. The others came close to the barrier and looked through it, except InuYasha.

He looked at the barrier, and soon his sword started to glow red.

Kagome turned and yelled, "NO! You can't!"

"I think Kagura was lying to us!" he yelled back.

"Even if she was," started Miroku, "do we want to take that chance?"

InuYasha growled and put his sword away.

Just then a wall broke down from the castle, and Kyoumi faced a large demon with multiple tentacle-like limbs with a baboon mask.

"Naraku!"

* * *

_There you go! That's the eighth chapter!_


	9. Kyoumi's True Form

_I love the next chapter so much. It has to be one of my favorites... after a few of the other chapters._

* * *

**Chapter 9: Kyoumi's True Form**

"You bastard!" Kyoumi yelled at Naraku, her anger rising quickly. She was useless without her sword, and she had dropped it trying to hurt Kagura. Better luck for Naraku, huh?

Kyoumi dodged his attacks and ran, trying to figure out a way to hurt him. She picked up a piece of wood that looked like it was sharp, and held it tightly. She didn't loosen her grip, even when splinters cut her hand apart.

A tentacle came near her and she lifted up the piece of wood and brought it down with all her force, stabbing Naraku. He brought more limbs towards her and stabbed her multiple times in the stomach and other parts of her body.

Kyoumi's friends watched in horror as Kyoumi's blood was splattered all over the place, staining the ground, her clothes and her hair.

Naraku pulled his limbs from her body and let her fall to the ground. Naraku shrunk back to normal size and walked over to Kyoumi. He turned her over and grabbed the shard in her neck, and started to slowly walk away.

But then something unexpected happened.

Kyoumi's fingernails turned into lethal claws, her toenails grew sharper too. Her teeth became fangs, and her ears turned into ears much like InuYasha's but slightly scruffier. Slowly, her kimono changed into different shades of purple because of her demonic powers. Finally, her eyes opened, and they were purple also.

Her gaze was expressionless, and her eyes looked a like someone's who was being controlled by some other demon.

Kyoumi slowly stood up, faced Naraku, and stood there.

Naraku stopped and turned around.

He smirked under the baboon mask. "Well, this should prove more interesting than I thought."

Kyoumi jumped up as high as any demon, and she came down on Naraku, her claws ripping through the air to cut him apart.

Naraku moved, but he was to slow. Kyoumi cut off the hand holding the Jewel Shard. She picked the Jewel Shard from the decapitated hand and held it up to look at.

Naraku re-grew his hand and looked at Kyoumi, his eyes wide. _How could she hit me?_ he thought, now angered.

"I'm going to leave you now, but be assured that we will meet again," said Naraku, vanishing in a cloud of miasma, his barrier vanishing with him.

Kyoumi's stance faltered and she fell to the ground.

Kyoumi regained control of herself to see her friends running towards her before she blacked out, still holding the Shikon Jewel Shard tightly in her hand.

* * *

_Another short chapter (much shorter than the others), but an interesting one nonetheless. I can't wait 'till I put the next chapter up. He he he. So fun!_


	10. Awakening

_This chapter I also love... Just so you know, I don't love them all, especially the ones with Sesshoumaru, because they are really bad in my opinion. The next chapter is funny too. I think..._

* * *

**Chapter 10: Awakening**

Kyoumi's eyes felt like they were glued shut. Tears had formed in her eyes and dried there, making it almost impossible for her to open them. She took her left hand and wiped her eyes and put her hand back, still not opening her eyes. She wasn't ready. She didn't want to see anything...

But she opened her eyes and saw the roof of a building. She turned her head painfully and recognized the place as Kaede's home. She put her arms next to her side, and pushed herself up, but quickly went back down because of the immense pain in her stomach.

Kyoumi slowly tried to sit up again, ignoring the pain in her stomach and other places. She sat up and looked down at her body. She was stripped of clothing, but from her breasts to her hips were covered in bandages anyway, along with some parts of her legs and arms, so it didn't matter.

Kyoumi noticed that her fingernails were longer than normal, but thought nothing of it.

Kyoumi breathed deeply and looked at her stomach again, seeing lots of blood on the bandages, and she also saw many bandages in a pile next to a boiling pot of water.

Kyoumi slowly let herself lay down again and groaned.

_What happened? I can't remember anything... Wait... Naraku_

The thought of him sent a surge of pain through her body, and her head started to pound.

She brought her right hand up to her face and realized it had been clenched since she woke up. She slowly opened it to reveal a Shikon Jewel Shard in her palm. It was a little bit bloody, but otherwise perfect. She clenched her hand again and held it close to her chest and closed her eyes.

A peculiar smell wafted into the room and she smelt something nice. It smelt like flowers and soap, but it also had a hint of blood on them... There was another smell too... An older smell, sweaty and tired. And then a dog fur smell...

Just then Kagome walked in the room, followed by Kaede and InuYasha. InuYasha looked more angry than usual, and Kaede didn't look much different. But it was Kagome that bothered her. Her eyes and cheeks were red, from crying too much.

"I hope these herbs will help her wounds heal. That was horrible... And for a human to live through that," Kagome said, wiping her eyes.

InuYasha sat down next to the fire, his back towards Kyoumi.

"Lucky she transformed. Or else she wouldn't have been able to survive," said InuYasha.

"Ye have a strong-willed friend. I think she will live. Ye just need to be patient," Kaede said, changing the pots so she can boil the herbs and not get them bloody.

Another new smell came wafting the room, besides the smell of blood, and it smelt like an animal. Then Shippo said while walking the building, "I found some medicinal herbs, Kagome! I hope they help."

Kagome smiled weakly and said, "I'm sure they will. Bring them here."

Three more smells came into the room, the smell of a cat, a woman and a man.

"Miroku! How can you think about that at a time like this?" Sango said, having slapped him right outside the house.

"I was just trying to lighten the mood," said Miroku, walking into the house bearing a red mark on his face.

"For yourself!" Sango said. She was so fierce looking that she scared Kirara off of her shoulder.

"Will you two be quiet for once!" yelled InuYasha, obviously angry. He hadn't been in the best mood since Kyoumi got hurt _and_ Naraku got away. But of course, InuYasha was never in a good mood. "Miroku, just quit groping her ass, OK? Now is not the time."

InuYasha closed his eyes and smelled the scents wafting around the room. Kagome next to him, Shippo next to Kaede at the fire, cooking herbs... Miroku next to the door with Sango, and Kirara hiding in a corner. But the scent that overpowered them all was Kyoumi's, which was all over the place. In the unwashed rags and the pot full of her blood and water. And her blood all over the bed she slept in. He sighed and hoped Kagome would be OK, he couldn't stand seeing her sad. She didn't even have the heart to sit him whenever he got on her nerves.

"When do you think Kyoumi will wake up?" asked Shippo.

"If you would have cared to notice, I've been awake since Kagome walked in," Kyoumi said in a quiet voice, still keeping her eyes closed and the Jewel Shard in her hand.

Everyone turned to look at Kyoumi, to make sure that they were not hallucinating.

"I knew something was different in here," InuYasha said, standing up and smiling for the first time since Kyoumi's injury.

Kyoumi gave a weak smile and opened her eyes to look at everyone. Kagome was smiling, and new tears were going down her face. Kaede smiled, but didn't dare interrupt the happy moment. Miroku looked pleased for a better excuse to grope Sango. Sango was happy that Kyoumi was OK, and Shippo was bouncing up and down with glee. Kirara decided that Sango was safe to be near now, so she jumped on her shoulder and meowed a couple times.

Kyoumi closed her eyes again and said, "Can I get out of here? I can't stand the smell all the blood... It's so strong..."

"You need to get some rest before you can go anywhere. You've been in a horrible condition for four days, we aren't going to let you go any time soon," Kagome said, finally deciding that the herbs were done. She put some in a cup and asked, "Can you sit up, Kyoumi?"

She nodded and painfully got up, groaning all the way. She leaned against the wall and breathed deeply, trying to catch her breath.

Kagome walked over to Kyoumi and handed her the cup of herbs to drink and eat.

Slowly she drank the gross tasting stuff, but it took a while for her to get it down.

Once she was finished, everyone was looking at her intently. She didn't even have to say 'What?' because Kagome asked what they wanted to know anyway.

"What happened, Kyoumi? Can you tell us?" Kagome asked, worry in her eyes.

InuYasha had sat down again and sat against the wall to be silent and moody again, but the others were all listening carefully.

Kyoumi looked at the ceiling, trying to remember all of it, and she soon started. "Well, when Kagura took me, I drew my sword and tried to cut her arm, but she stopped it before I could really injure her too badly. She then grabbed my sword and threw it to the ground.

"She dropped me off inside a castle and then went outside to stop you guys. Then a man in a baboon mask came from the castle and said his name was--"

"Naraku," said InuYasha, finishing her sentence for her.

"Yes," Kyoumi said. "He said he was Naraku, and that I had a Jewel Shard that he wanted. At first I thought he was joking. But then he said that someone planted it there the night before my sixteenth birthday. The night before I found Kagome in the forest.

"Naraku said that he planted the Jewel Shard there so I wouldn't gain my powers. I asked him why he would do that, and he said that there was a chance that I would travel with you, InuYasha. I asked him why I would go with you. He told me that..." Kyoumi cut off. She opened her hand to show off the Jewel Shard she got back from Naraku and everyone but Kagome, Kaede and InuYasha gasped.

She looked at the wall and felt her eyes watering.

"He told me he killed my mother," Kyoumi said, closing her eyes and letting a single tear fall down her face.

hr

_Har har har! I'm so evil._


	11. Meeting Mitsu

_I love this chapter because it is so funny!_

* * *

**Chapter 11: Meeting Mitsu**

The next couple days, Sango seemed to hang around Kyoumi a lot more. Sango would sit on the end of Kyoumi's bed and sleep next to her a lot, and she would sometimes look out into space around Kyoumi. She scarcely went out without a good reason, and seemed to be thinking a lot while around Kyoumi.

Three days after Kyoumi woke up, Sango sat on the edge of her bed and looked at Kyoumi in the eyes, keeping them locked on.

"I have something to tell you," said Sango after a long silence of just staring.

"Is it why you've been willingly staying in this stuffy house? Because I swear, I'm about to puke from the smell of blood," Kyoumi answered, making a face that InuYasha would be proud of.

"Well, yes... I want to sympathize with you," Sango said, looking down at the floor.

Kyoumi's eyes widened and she wondered what exactly Sango meant.

"See, you aren't the only one who has lost family members. A while ago, I lived happily in a demon-slayer's village. But then we got summoned to a castle to destroy a demon. We did what we were told, but then we found out that the Lord of the castle was actually a demon, Naraku," Sango said, looking at anywhere but Kyoumi's face the whole time.

"I saw my brother being controlled by him, and Naraku made Kohaku kill everyone. Then Kohaku was killed, and I was almost too. I was buried alive.

"I was told that all of the villagers were killed... And Naraku made me believe that InuYasha was the one who destroyed the town, but InuYasha and the others actually buried everyone, and Naraku killed them," Sango said, not being able to talk for much longer.

"Naraku has taken over Kohaku's body, and controls him with a Jewel Shard. Kohaku can't remember anything," said Sango.

"I'm so sorry... That's terrible! Damn Naraku! We will get him... Don't worry," Kyoumi said, anger pulsing through her body. Her now purple eyes looked on fire, and she punched the bed with inhuman strength. Now there was a large hole in the bed that she sat in.

Sango looked at the hole in the bed and gave out a small laugh. "Well, it looks like you're feeling better. I bet if I ask Kagome, I can help you get dressed and you can go out for a while and get yourself cleaned off. You have a lot of dried blood on you."

Sango got up and walked outside and came back about five minutes later with Kagome who had even more herbs with her. Kyoumi had started to hate herbs so much that she almost got sick seeing them.

"Let me just see a couple of your wounds and then I can see if you're ready," said Kagome as she lifted a couple bandages on Kyoumi's arm.

She looked at the wound and it seemed to be only a scab left, having healed extra fast because of the herbs and the demon blood in Kyoumi. Kagome lifted part of the bandage on her stomach and it still wasn't healed as much as she'd like it to be, but Kagome smiled and said, "You can go. But stay in the area. We don't know what will happen."

Kagome and Sango helped Kyoumi get into her kimono, but no matter what, Kyoumi wanted to get out of this house. The smell was terrible.

---

Kyoumi walked outside and breathed in the fresh air. She smiled a little bit and started to walk towards the nearby river. In her hands was a thin towel, in case she wanted to take a bath up river in the forest. She was really thirsty for some good water. And she needed to clean herself off.

Kyoumi neared the water and noticed that people kept giving her sideways glances. She glared at them, but she still remained happy to have gotten out of the house.

Once she got the the water she put her hands in and washed her face off a bit, and saw bits of blood from her face go into the water. Kyoumi looked into the water to look at her reflection, but saw someone else staring at her. She had purple eyes and black scruffy ears similar to InuYasha's on top of her head. Her teeth were sharper, and she had very sharp claws. What was most surprising was that her green kimono had changed to purple.

"This is what Naraku meant... I'm a youkai now. There's no changing that," Kyoumi said to herself.

She sighed and started to walk upriver, her happy feeling almost gone now. She glared and growled at almost anyone she met along the way, and suddenly had a mood that could rival InuYasha's.

Once upriver and away from any prying eyes, she stripped of her clothing and jumped into the river. The only bandages still on her were on her stomach, and the blood stained on them became a little less red and more pink. Kyoumi went under the water and swam for a bit, and then went towards the side of the river to try and get back on land.

Kyoumi heard something in the forest and looked at the bushes. She heard something rustle behind them.

Kyoumi headed under the water and grabbed a rock about the size of her fist. She surfaced and threw the rock at the bushes, making them say, "Ow!"

"Who's there?" Kyoumi said, angry now.

A young man with bright blue eyes and shoulder-length black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He had a longer nose and he was fairly tall for a guy, about 6 and a half feet, and he had a red and black kimono on. His shoes were normal for this time, but he had two swords on his belt. But what was weird about him was that his ears were pointed.

"AH!" yelled Kyoumi as she turned around. She blushed furiously and swam a little bit towards the middle of the river, trying to get away from the bank on which the man was on.

"Sorry, miss," he said turning to face the other direction. I promise I won't look back if you can get out of the water and get your clothes on.

Kyoumi turned to look at him and swam to the bank of the river, and pulled herself up. She wrapped herself with a towel and started to get her kimono back on, but it was hard when she was so angry.

"OK, I'm done," Kyoumi said as she finished putting her kimono, still as red as ever.

"Sorry, about that. I didn't mean to see you," said the man, blushing also.

Kyoumi looked angry and started to walk towards the village.

"Why do you have those bandages around your waist?" asked the man.

"Naraku. Is there anything else you saw that you want to ask?" Kyoumi said, her anger rising.

"Well, I saw your tail."

"WHAT!" Kyoumi turned to look at the back of her pants and saw a lump in them. _How did I miss a TAIL!_ thought Kyoumi as she ripped a hole in the back of her pants so she could see the tail. Kyoumi pulled it out and saw that it was black like her hair, but it was still a little bit wet from her bath.

"Great. This day couldn't be any better!" Kyoumi said sarcastically as she dropped her tail and started to walk towards the village.

"In case you wanted to know, my name is Mitsu," he said, looking down at her.

"Sure, I wanted to know the name of the person who saw me naked," Kyoumi said angrily.

"Can you tell me your name?" Mitsu asked.

"Oh, right, I'm Kyoumi," she said, still scowling.

Kyoumi walked through the village ignoring the looks she got by passing by. Her new tail dried off soon enough, and once it was dry she had made it to Kaede's house. She stalked in, making people turn their heads when she got in.

"What's with you?" asked InuYasha.

"I have a tail! A _tail_!" Kyoumi said as she stopped in the middle of the room.

"Yeah, so?"

"Shut up."

"Who's that?" asked Miroku as he picked at some fish he was eating.

Kyoumi turned around and let out a small scream.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" yelled Kyoumi as she tried not to punch Mitsu.

"I followed you here," he answered.

"You followed me! Why the hell did you do that?"

"You never said I couldn't."

"AGH!" Kyoumi walked over to the fire and sat down next to InuYasha.

He looked at the tail and touched it and said, "I like your tail."

"Shut up," growled Kyoumi.

"So, who are you?" Sango asked Mitsu.

"I'm Mitsu," he said, bowing slightly.

"How do you know Kyoumi?" Miroku asked.

"I saw her bathing," he answered.

Kyoumi glared into the fire and turned beet red as everyone turned to look at her.

Kyoumi sniffed the air and then looked at Mitsu. "Wait a second! You're a youkai!" exclaimed Kyoumi.

"You just figured that out now?" Mitsu asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well it's hard to smell in the water!" yelled Kyoumi.

"Do you want to have some dinner with us, Mitsu?" Kagome asked pleasantly.

Kyoumi glared at Kagome, but Mitsu walked over to the fire and sat down.

Everyone but Kyoumi had a nice time at dinner. Kyoumi was still angry.

* * *

_That chapter makes even me laugh, and I wrote it. I hope it made you laugh too... Now, who is this strange Mitsu person and what does he want? Is he evil? Or good? You'll just have to wait and find out!_


	12. Dogs and Wolves

_I find this more of a pointless chapter, and kindof a filler. But still read it. It explains a little bit about Kyoumi._

* * *

**Chapter 12: Dogs and Wolves**

Kyoumi was soon well enough to travel and search for the remaining Jewel Shards. Mitsu kept coming over and bugging Kyoumi, but the others found him nice, for a demon. Kyoumi couldn't wait to get going. Kaede made them eat before they could leave though.

The day that they were supposed to leave, Mitsu came over to Kaede's house to talk to them all.

He sat in front of them and closed his eyes. He let out a sigh before he started to speak.

"I want to ask you all a question," Mitsu said, looking at Kyoumi mainly.

Kyoumi took a sip of water and listened to him carefully.

"Can I travel with you all?"

Kyoumi spit out all her water and started to choke. InuYasha hit her hard on the back and she stopped coughing. "Thanks," she said, glaring at Mitsu.

"Why do you want to travel with us?" Shippo asked.

"I want to help gather the Shards of the Sacred Shikon Jewel," Mitsu said, smiling. "I don't think that a horrible demon such as Naraku should have them."

"That's good enough for me," InuYasha said, smirking. He glanced at Kagome and she was smiling.

Kyoumi's mouth went open and she closed it, trying to figure out what to say.

"Ye should get going soon," Kaede said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, we should get going," Shippo said, getting up and stretching.

---

Now that Kyoumi was a demon, she could run just as fast as InuYasha, and she could jump just as high as him too.

"I'll race you!" Kyoumi said to InuYasha.

"You won't beat me!" InuYasha.

"You may have been a youkai longer than me, but I have more youkai blood in me!" Kyoumi said, speeding up.

"That won't matter once I beat you!" said InuYasha as he picked up his pace as well, forgetting that Kagome was on his back.

"Hey, slow down! I sense a Jewel Shard!" yelled Kagome. _And it's moving fast... Is it Kouga?_ thought Kagome.

They slowed to a stop, Mitsu stopping next to Kyoumi. She growled at him and he moved over a little bit.

A tornado came into view and sped toward them, stopping right in front of them. Kyoumi and Mitsu put up their arms to brace themselves, but it stopped soon enough.

"Hey Kagome," said the wolf demon.

"What're you doing here you mangy wolf!" said InuYasha, clenching his fist together.

"Shut up, mutt. I'm just here to check if Kagome is OK. I heard that some girl traveling with you was attacked by Naraku and almost died," said Kouga.

"I'm fine Kouga, it was Kyoumi who got hurt," Kagome said pointing to Kyoumi.

"Well, even a strong demon can't stand much of a chance against him," Kouga said.

"I was human when it happened," Kyoumi said.

"Oh, you're a half demon?" Kouga asked. He sniffed the air. "Yeah, that's an unmistakable scent. I just couldn't tell with that mutt stinking up the place."

"Shut your face you mangy wolf!" yelled InuYasha.

"I don't know why you would travel with that mutt though," said Kouga, ignoring InuYasha's comment. "Most of us wolves don't like him."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kyoumi asked, very confused.

"I smell a hint of wolf blood in you. I mean, that tail isn't a dog's, that's for sure," Kouga said, turning.

InuYasha looked at Kyoumi and shrugged. "She is nicer than you," InuYasha said, smirking.

Kouga waved the comment aside and said, "Bye, Kagome. Hope this mutt doesn't kill you." He then set off in a whirlwind and was gone in a flash.

"Well, that was a waste of time," InuYasha said, starting to walk.

"I wouldn't say so. I found out some of my heritage," said Kyoumi as she started to run.

Once they all started off again, Kyoumi ran up behind InuYasha to talk to Kagome.

"What's with Kouga checking if you were OK?" Kyoumi asked.

"He kidnaps me once and now he calls me his woman. He fell in love with me, but I don't even have close to the same feelings back," Kagome said, closing her eyes.

InuYasha seemed happy for the rest of the day.

* * *

_Ugh, editing all of these chapters with all the HTML sucks. Gr. Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to put up with it. Anyway, that's the chapter and I hope that you like it, even though I don't._


	13. Winds of Change

_Sorry for not updating. Microsoft Word kept quitting on me. Oh well. Anyway, here's the next chapter._

* * *

**Chapter 13: Winds of Change**

They woke up the next day happy and refreshed, but Kyoumi quickly went into a bad mood when Mitsu kept walking next to her when they went on their way to find more Jewel Shards.

"Can you move over?" Kyoumi asked, trying to sound polite but not managing to achieve it.

"OK, OK," Mitsu said as he moved over a bit, but keeping an eye on Kyoumi.

Kyoumi went on the other side of InuYasha to talk to Kagome.

"Ever since he saw me bathing he hasn't quit bugging me!" whispered Kyoumi.

"Have you ever thought it's because he likes you?" Kagome asked in a whisper.

"What?" Kyoumi's eyes widened.

"Well, maybe he is following you because he doesn't want you to get hurt... Or else he wants to be near you," Kagome said.

"Wow, it's taken you this long to realize that he likes you?" asked InuYasha. "I don't understand any love stuff and I realized it when he first walked into Kaede's house. That's why I let him come with us."

Kyoumi looked like she was going to slice InuYasha's head off with her sword and Kagome looked a little bit hurt about the love stuff. But Kagome ignored what he said and turned back to Kyoumi.

"Well, excuse me for being socially inactive, but have you forgotten that whenever I tried to talk to someone in my village that I got rocks thrown at me?" Kyoumi asked.

"Feh," InuYasha said, turning his head away from the two.

Kyoumi sighed and went back to where she was walking before and looked at the ground. She didn't even know if she liked this youkai! He seemed to get on her nerves way to much.

But then Kyoumi stopped, having caught a scent that was familiar.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, having seen her stop.

"Naraku. Either that or Kagura," Kyoumi said, looking up into the sky.

Kyoumi saw what she was looking for. She saw the bottom of Kagura's giant feather. Behind her was a few insects.

"The samiyosho! They're behind Kagura," said Miroku. "I can't use my Wind Tunnel."

Even though Kyoumi had been traveling with them for all that time, she had not yet seen Miroku use his wind tunnel.

Kagura landed in front of them and Kyoumi walked forward in front of the others.

"What do you want, Kagura?" Kyoumi asked with fire in her eyes.

"To see if you lived. And to kill you if you did!" she said, taking her fan and bringing it down, making huge blades of wind.

Kyoumi put her arms up and wished desperately that they wouldn't hit. A gust of wind hit her, but that was all... Kyoumi opened her eyes and saw the blades had stopped in midair, but were still spinning.

Kagome gasped and looked at Kyoumi.

Kyoumi had transformed yet again. Her hair and tail had become as silvery white as InuYasha's hair. Her eyes were a very light blue, and her kimono had become a white and light blue also.

Kyoumi caught a glimpse of her hair and gasped also. _What is happening? I've transformed? How could that happen?_ thought Kyoumi.

Kagura looked like she was going to scream, but she stayed quiet and still.

Kyoumi smirked and put her hands out, sending Kagura's blades right back at her. _I can control the wind! This is amazing!_thought Kyoumi.

Kagura gasped and she was hit with her own blades, and was sent to the ground. She got up and smirked.

"Naraku will want to see you again, very soon," said Kagura as she took a feather from her hair and flew away.

Kyoumi was breathing deeply and she looked back at the others to see them all looking sorta scared.

Shippo jumped up and said, "That was so cool!"

* * *

_Not very long, is it? But another amazing ability revealed_


	14. InuYasha's Feelings

_This is a small filler chapter, and has a little bit of fluff. It's VERY small. VERY VERY SMALL. Anyway, I'm just putting this in because I want to now... -sigh-_

* * *

**Chapter 14: InuYasha's Feelings**

Kyoumi found many different attacks that she could use now. She could make her own blades of wind like Kagura's with her claws. She could make a giant bird from wind and transport herself and others on thin air. She could send out giant gushes of wind to stop attacks and send them back towards the enemy, or anyone she wanted, and she could make giant tornadoes to attack and confuse enemies.

She practiced controlling the wind every day, and she practiced transforming between her two forms. She wanted to get very good so she could only take a second to transform. But she still had a long way to go in order to get that good, or to fully control the wind.

The group found a nice home soon, belonging to no one, and they decided to stay there for the night.

"I'm going out," said InuYasha, walking out of the house.

Kagome looked concerned and followed him outside.

Sango and Miroku looked at each other and then to the door and Sango said, "Let's go."

Kyoumi nodded and Mitsu seemed to follow her wherever she went, and Shippo wouldn't stay here alone.

The five of them snuck out of the house and Kyoumi led the way, following InuYasha's scent.

They hid behind some bushes and a couple trees when they saw InuYasha in a clearing. He was looking up to the sky and looking at the moon that was almost gone. Kagome walked into the clearing from another direction and walked over to InuYasha.

"What are you looking at?" Kagome asked InuYasha.

"Nothing really. I'm just thinking about stuff," he answered.

"What kind of stuff?" Kagome asked sweetly.

InuYasha didn't answer.

"Kagome?" asked InuYasha after a long pause.

"Hm?"

"Why do you come here?" InuYasha asked, finally looking down to Kagome.

"To find the Jewel Shards," she answered, but InuYasha knew that wasn't why.

"Why do you really come here?"

Kagome was quiet, but she stared into InuYasha's eyes.

Kagome muttered something that they couldn't hear, and then InuYasha smiled and kissed Kagome.

Kagome was so surprised when he kissed her, but when he came out from the kiss she kissed him back.

Kyoumi smiled and slowly walked back to the house, motioning for the others to come too.

_Aww... Anyway, thanks for all the reviews!_


	15. Meeting up with Sesshoumaru

_And more crap. I don't know if I really like this chapter... Anyway._

* * *

**Chapter 15: Meeting Up with Sesshoumaru**

Sango slept next to Miroku, Mitsu slept nearby to Kyoumi and Shippo was sleeping in a corner by himself when InuYasha and Kagome walked in. One of Kyoumi's eyes was open, watching the couple, and InuYasha sat down next to Kyoumi to sleep.

As soon as Kagome's breathing went steady, Kyoumi opened her eyes and said in a whisper to InuYasha, "How was your kiss?"

"How'd you know?" InuYasha asked in a whisper also.

"We followed you," Kyoumi said while beaming.

"Baka," InuYasha said to Kyoumi, making her giggle.

"I had a feeling you liked her, it was obvious," Kyoumi said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It was. You always kept an eye out for her. It's the same with Sango and Miroku," explained Kyoumi.

"Well, Mitsu likes you," whispered InuYasha.

"Shut up."

"Are you still angry at him for seeing you naked?"

"I was trying to forget that."

"Then I'm going to bring it up all the time."

"Good night, InuYasha," Kyoumi said forcefully and she turned away from him, smiling.

---

The next morning everyone was in a fairly good mood and they set off again to look for the Sacred Jewel Shards.

They walked for a while and found themselves outside the forest. There was a large battlefield in front of them with many bodies and the ground was stained with blood. There was no grass, just charred ground, and it looked like nothing would grow here ever again.

Then in the distance was a tall white-haired man facing away from them next to a small, green imp carrying a wooden staff. There was also a young girl on the back of a two headed dragon thing.

"Sesshoumaru!" said InuYasha as he glared at the white-haired man.

"You know him?" Mitsu asked.

"He's my brother," InuYasha said.

Mitsu turned toward Sesshoumaru and said, "I've heard of him."

"Why doesn't he have an arm?" Kyoumi asked.

"I cut it off," InuYasha said while smirking.

"Ew."

"InuYasha, where exactly are we going to go now? We can't go back, but your brother will probably attack us if we go any further," Kagome said.

"We'll have to take that chance," said InuYasha, trudging forward confidently.

Once they were about twenty feet away Sesshoumaru spoke.

"InuYasha. I knew I smelt your hanyou blood," said Sesshoumaru in an emotionless voice. He turned around and his face looked even more emotionless.

The small girl turned around and smiled, and the green imp turned to face them as well.

"What's that thing?" Kyoumi asked, pointing to the imp.

"I am Jaken, servant of Lord Sesshoumaru!" said Jaken looking proud.

"Master Jaken, can we go from here? I don't like all of the bodies," Rin said, looking sad.

"Be quiet, Rin!" yelled Jaken in his odd voice.

Sesshoumaru turned to Jaken and gave him an ugly glare, and Jaken shut up immediately.

"So, InuYasha, what are you doing here? Looking for Naraku?"

"What's it to you?" asked InuYasha angrily.

"I am going to kill him."

"Yeah right!"

"I think I should have killed you sooner. You keep getting in the way," said Sesshoumaru as he pulled out his sword, Tokijin.

Sesshoumaru ran towards them with tremendous speed and was about to strike. Miroku, Mitsu and Kyoumi jumped out of the way, InuYasha grabbed Kagome and Shippo and Sango got out of the way with Kirara.

_What's the deal with him and InuYasha?_ Kyoumi asked herself as she transformed.

She landed on the ground a ways away and made a bird using wind. She used it to fly over to Kagome and get her and Shippo on the bird so they could get away.

"Go get Mitsu!" said Shippo pointing to the black haired demon.

Kyoumi sighed and flew down there, getting Mitsu on top of the air-bird.

"What should we do about InuYasha?" Kyoumi asked.

"He will want to battle Sesshoumaru," Kagome said, looking worried.

Kyoumi flew above the two down there and kept an eye on them.

Sango came next to Kyoumi on Kirara with Miroku.

As InuYasha sent a Wind Scar towards Sesshoumaru, Kyoumi asked, "Do they always do this?"

"Yeah," said Miroku as he looked down there also.

InuYasha sent another Wind Scar towards Sesshoumaru and he easily dodged it. Sesshoumaru looked up to see Kyoumi and the others flying around. He got an idea, not to attack InuYasha, but his friends.

Sesshoumaru started to fly up towards Kyoumi andthe others. She turned and went towards a lake, as to not get attacked by Sesshoumaru. But he pursued them.

InuYasha saw what Sesshoumaru was trying to do and ran behind them, jumping to get higher and try and stop his brother. "Get away from them! I'm your target!" InuYasha said as he sped up behind his brother.

Kyoumi flew close to the water on a lake, but then Sesshoumaru flew right above them and dropped down, almost on top of them.

Kyoumi had no choice, she had to get rid of their bird.

Once Kyoumi did that, they dropped into the water, and fell quickly.

One by one they rose to the surface, except for Kyoumi.

* * *

_Dun dun dun! Amazing! Ohh! Sesshoumaru serves no real purpose in this fanfic, I just decided to put him in there._


	16. Winds and Whirlpools

**I've decided to make the beginning and end notes BOLD instead of my normal italics. Probably easier to read. Anyway, this is another short chapter. Many of my chapters are short. But my next fanfiction I'm making them LONG.**

* * *

**Chapter 16: Winds and Whirlpools**

Kyoumi tried to swim to the surface, but couldn't make it. She looked around to try and see if she was close to the surface, but it was so dark in the lake that you couldn't tell.

But then Kyoumi transformed again. Her hair and tail became as blue as the water, as did her eyes and kimono. She realized that she could now breathe under the water as well and could control it.

_I can control air AND water? I never realized I was so powerful!_ thought Kyoumi as she made herself shoot through the water.

The surface of the water shook and it shot up, carrying Kyoumi on top of it. She smirked and rose up on a platform of water and threw some water at Sesshoumaru, using it to try and drown and stop him. Once Sesshoumaru was soaked he glared at Kyoumi and ran off, calling Rin to come with him on the two-headed dragon thing.

Kyoumi relaxed and the water she stood on slowly went back into the lake. She sighed and landed in the water and looked at everyone staring at her.

"I didn't know about this until now," Kyoumi said as she started to swim back to the shore.

* * *

**Oh my God... That chapter is SOOO short. I have to put another chapter up after this one, right away. Oo; Sorry it's so tiny. In related news, I finished writing another fanfic where the chapters are much longer, but it has less chapters. It has my friend and I in it, so it's really funny. I'm working on the sequel right now, and that's why I didn't update lately. The sequel is a bit more serious and mature than the first one.**


	17. Fox in the Fire

**Here's another chapter. This one is a bit longer than the last one, and it's a bit more exciting.**

* * *

**Chapter 17: Fox in the Fire**

After meeting up with Sesshoumaru, Kyoumi thought that she may be able to transform even more.

She kept trying, but she couldn't transform to anything other than normal, air and water. She just couldn't do it.

She then thought that she had to be in danger in order to transform, so that might mean something.

The next couple days were uneventful. There was no Jewel Shards and no one to fight.

"AGH!" yelled Kyoumi as she chopped off a rat demon's head with her black sword. "It bit me!"

"Don't move," said Mitsu as he walked over to Kyoumi's injury. He looked at the bite on her leg and put his hand over it, but didn't touch it. He muttered something and took away his hand, revealing nothing but skin.

"What did you do? The bite is gone!" Kyoumi exclaimed, amazed by what happened.

"One of my powers is healing," Mitsu said straitening up. He brushed off his kimono and started to walk forward.

Kyoumi ran to catch up to him and said, "Uh, thanks... I didn't know you could do that. What else can you do?"

Mitsu smiled and said, "I can also become a black wolf, because I'm a wolf demon."

"Where's your tail?" asked Kyoumi.

"I'm a different species than the ones around here, so I don't have a tail," answered Mitsu.

"Oh..."

Kyoumi talked with Mitsu for a while and they talked about their pasts. It turned out Mitsu was a perfectly normal person with not much hardships, but he was from an island north of Japan. He was trying to find a Jewel though, and it turned out that it was the Sacred Shikon Jewel. Why he wanted it, he wouldn't say.

They reached a village soon enough and decided to stay there for the night.

That night was the night of no moon.

InuYasha became human and Mitsu was very surprised.

"Don't worry," Kyoumi said, "this is normal."

"Never tell anyone though," InuYasha said.

Then a thought struck her. She wasn't full demon, when would she become human again?

The night came and went without any big events, and Kyoumi thought it was getting rather boring.

In the morning they set off to see if they could find anymore Sacred Jewel Shards. They went through the village and into walked into a large forest.

Kyoumi and InuYasha stopped.

"What is it?" Kagome asked.

"Fire," said InuYasha.

"And lots of it," finished Kyoumi.

They turned around and saw the forest burning behind them. They started to run and went as fast as they could, but the fire caught up with them.

"Oomph!" said Shippo as he fell off of Kagome's shoulder.

"Shippo!" said Kyoumi as she stopped and went to go back. She ran as fast as she could and then grabbed Shippo once she made it to him, but couldn't go back. A large tree was blocking their way, and the top of the forest was burning like mad.

Kyoumi transformed into her water transformation and tried to get any from the air, but it was all evaporated.

Kyoumi held Shippo close and jumped out of the way as another tree fell.

She wished the fire in front of them would just go away! She wanted to get out of there! Then the fire on the tree in front of them vanished.

_I must have transformed again!_ thought Kyoumi as she looked down at her clothes. Sure enough, her kimono was red and orange, and her eyes were too, like her hair.

Kyoumi smiled and ran through the forest, as fast as she could, clearing the way of any fire. She saw the end of the forest and ran through a bunch of smoke and coming to a halt.

The others stood next to the forest and gaped at her.

"You have _another_ youkai form?" said InuYasha with his eyes wide.

Kyoumi blushed as red as her hair.

* * *

**Look how much trouble they get into! Heh.**


	18. Jewels from Kouga

**A bit of fluff in this chapter! XD And the other character that appears is a character a friend made, and she wanted it in the fanfic.**

* * *

**Chapter 18: Jewels from Kouga**

Almost a half month later InuYasha had come up with a plan to get a few Shards of the Shikon Jewel. Kagome reluctantly agreed with it, wanting to get the Jewel Shards as badly as possible.

Kyoumi walked towards Kouga's wolf den in her fire transformation and with Mitsu next to her in his wolf transformation. He reached Kyoumi's height in that transformation, just a half foot shorter than normal. He had electric blue eyes and had long claws on his feet, and very sharp.

Once in the den Kyoumi started to make smoke, and it got whoever was behind them out of the den. In the very back of the den was Kouga, sleeping soundly.

Kyoumi reached for Kouga's leg and grabbed one of the Jewel shards, and then reached for the other one.

Kouga's eyes opened abruptly and he growled.

"Who are you? And what are you doing taking my Jewel Shards!" yelled Kouga as he got up.

Kyoumi held one of the Jewel Shards in her hand and said, "We're just taking them back to the person who lost them."

"Give me back my Jewel Shard!"

Kyoumi took out her black sword and it lit on fire.

"If you don't give me that other Jewel Shard, I'll have to kill you," Kyoumi said, brining the sword close to his face. He could feel the heat from the fire and started to sweat, but didn't look worried. He just smirked.

"Your scent smells familiar," Kouga said.

"If that's true, how come I've never met you before?" lied Kyoumi. Mitsu growled and bared his teeth and Kyoumi pushed the flaming blade even closer.

"Give me the Jewel Shard or die," Kyoumi said, the fire on her blade turning dark blue and black, matching the sword that it was on.

Intimidated, Kouga reached down to the leg with the remaining Jewel Shard and pulled it out.

Kyoumi held out her hand with the other Jewel Shard and waited for Kouga to give her the other Jewel.

He dropped it into her palm and and she closed her hand, smirking.

"Thanks," said Kyoumi, and she turned and ran through the smoke that was still there. Mitsu followed and she ran as fast as she could out of there, wanting to get out of this evil act as soon as possible.

But someone was blocking their way. It was a female wolf youkai that was a bit shorter than Kyoumi, but looked quite similar. She had black and white hair, that looked like it alternated, in a braid that went down to her ankles. She had a black and white tail too, and regular youkai ears. Her eyes were light gray and they pierced your skin with her gaze.

"Give back the Jewel Shards," said the wolf youkai.

"Who are you to question us?" Kyoumi asked.

"I am Tamashi, and I'm going to get those Jewel Shards no matter what," said the wolf youkai.

She ran towards them with her claws ready to slice them through, but Kyoumi put up a wall of fire in front of her.

"What is this!" exclaimed Tamashi.

"Something to show you that you shouldn't meddle in other people's business," said Kyoumi as she made the fire make a large circle around Tamashi, but the flames were getting bigger and bigger. Only when Kyoumi was out of range would they diminish.

"Let me out of here!" yelled Tamashi.

Mitsu and Kyoumi started to run as fast as they could so they could get to InuYasha and the others.

They stopped for a rest and Mitsu returned to his regular form, smiling. Kyoumi sat against a tree and turned into her regular youkai form also.

"Nice acting back there," Mitsu said, sitting next to her.

Kyoumi opened up her palm and said, "Yeah. But it doesn't feel right, you know? I feel like a common thief. I feel like I am dirty and I can't clean myself off... You didn't have to do much of the work, just growl..."

"You know why. He would have recognized me in my regular form," Mitsu said.

"I know, but it still feels wrong."

"Don't worry," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Kyoumi's heart started to beat faster and she nodded. "Ok..."

"Should we get going?" asked Mitsu as he stood up.

"Yeah..."

"You OK?"

Kyoumi nodded and stood up.

_What happened?_

* * *

**XD Kyoumi seems confused, doesn't she?**


	19. Night of the Full Moon

**Chapter 19: Night of the Full Moon**

"Wow! Great job you two! You go the Jewel Shards no sweat!" said InuYasha as he took the Jewel Shards from Kyoumi. He gave them to Kagome and she put them in a small bottle that had a few other Jewel Shards inside of it.

"Kyoumi was the one who did all the work. I was just there to scare 'em all. She managed to get the Jewel Shards away from him," Mitsu said as he gave a sideways glance to Kyoumi and smiled.

Kyoumi was in a daze and was looking past InuYasha. _What was that? Am I going insane? Or did something happen?_ thought Kyoumi as her vision became blurry from not looking at anything in particular.

"Kyoumi? You OK?" Mitsu asked.

Kyoumi snapped out of her trance and looked at Mitsu. "Yeah! Yeah... Everything is fine," Kyoumi lied badly. "I just still have my doubts of getting the Shards."

"Don't worry about it! At least we're going to get all the Jewel Shards, and that's what matters. We can't let Naraku have it, especially after what he did to you," said Mitsu trying to reassure Kyoumi. He pat her on her shoulder and walked over to the fire that Shippo had made.

Sango walked over to Kyoumi and smiled. "You're blushing," said Sango.

"What?" Kyoumi said as she touched her face. It was indeed hot. Kyoumi blushed even more.

Sango laughed and walked over to the fire where everyone else was sitting.

Once Kyoumi had stopped blushing she walked over to the fire also.

---

The fire was still burning, but the night was almost upon them. Kyoumi looked up into the sky and saw a full moon, even though the sun hadn't set. Kyoumi stared at it, her back facing the fire. Soon the last of the sun's rays were gone and Kyoumi felt a strange peace.

"Kyoumi! Your tail is gone!" Miroku said.

"Huh?" Kyoumi felt for her tail but it wasn't there.

"So are your ears! They're normal now," Sango said.

Kyoumi felt for her scruffy wolfish ears on top of her head, but they weren't there.

_I'm human!__ Kyoumi thought, looking up to the full moon._

"Hey, guys. I know we've seen another full moon when I was a youkai, but I didn't turn into a human then. What do you think is up?" Kyoumi asked her friends.

"You're not just a hanyou, remember? It's because you have more youkai blood that makes you transform into a human less often," InuYasha said, sounding strangely smart, but it was just because he was half demon that he could figure it out. Kyoumi shrugged and looked at the sky.

Just then a dark cloud went overhead, blocking out the moon.

"What's that?" asked Shippo as he bounced into Kagome's arms.

"They're demons!" InuYasha yelled as he stood up.

"Don't worry, InuYasha, I'll take care of them if they come near," Miroku said, getting up also.

The demons turned and flew towards the fire, hoping to get some fresh meat.

"Stand back everyone!" yelled Miroku.

He took the prayer beads off of his right hand and a strange wind came from nowhere. The demons headed towards camp, but then they were being sucked into one area by Miroku. They flew into Miroku's right hand and disappeared!

Miroku cut off the wind from his hand and put the prayer beads back on.

"Nice job Miroku," Sango said.

"What was that?" Kyoumi asked Miroku.

"The Wind Tunnel. It was Naraku who gave my family this cursed void. It'll suck me in someday if he doesn't get killed," Miroku said, looking at the ground.

_That's so sad! Just another reason to kill Naraku!_ Kyoumi thought.

* * *

**Kinda short, but sweet.**


	20. Smells, Scents and Sleep

**This chapter is kinda boring in my eyes...**

* * *

**Chapter 20: Smells, Scents and Sleep**

In the morning Kyoumi became youkai again, ears and all. She was happy to be back to normal, seeing as the loss of powers got her paranoid. She was still confused, but she was feeling a lot better. She didn't realize she would miss being a demon so much!

"I sense a Jewel Shard," Kagome said at a crossroad. Kagome turned left and said, "It's this way. Let's go."

Kagome got onto InuYasha's back and he started to run at full speed. The others followed.

They went off of the trail and through the forest, speeding past the trees. An odd smell wafted through the forest and the five youkais couldn't go nearly as fast.

"What's wrong?" Sango asked InuYasha.

"That smell... It's making me really... sleepy," InuYasha said as he yawned.

Kirara yawned and transformed back into a cute little cat and went to sleep on the ground.

Kagome looked at InuYasha and asked, "Do you think you'll be able to stay awake?"

He nodded and said, "I'm half human, aren't I? I'll be all right... But I don't know if the others will be... What should we do?"

"How about I get a couple masks for you guys? It'll help. That way you can stay awake," said Sango as she grabbed some masks from the pouch on her outfit. She got five different sized masks for the others and put them on for them all. Almost immediately they were wide awake, and able to move some more.

They headed forward and saw a young figure in the distance. He was wearing a green and black demon-slayer's outfit much like Sango's and he had short, dark brown hair. His eyes were brown and he had a weird weapon that was like a blade on a chain.

"Kohaku!" yelled Sango.

Around him was pink smoke that could make demons fall asleep.

Kohaku took his weapon and threw it at Kyoumi, but she jumped up out of the way before it hit her.

Kyoumi landed behind Kohaku and hit him hard on the top of his head as to knock him out. He fell to the ground and blacked out.

"That must have been the Jewel Shard I sensed. I was kinda hoping it was Naraku," Kagome said as she walked towards Kohaku. She knelt down and said, "You know, we are gonna have to take the Jewel Shard away from him soon. Maybe we should bring him with us for now?"

Sango nodded and took her brother onto Kirara.

_That must be the brother Sango told me about!_ thought Kyoumi.

She followed InuYasha as he ran the way they were going, following Kohaku's faint scent through the mask to see if he could find Naraku by heading the way Kohaku came.

Soon enough the smell that could put demons to sleep disappeared and the youkais in the group could take their masks off.

Once they were almost out of the forest they put up camp next to a river.

* * *

**When I started to write that chapter I started to write about a smoke that made demons go to sleep, but then I needed a reason for them to go to sleep, so I used Kohaku.**


	21. The Dance

**This chapter is REALLY fluffy. Well, for me, anyway. I usually don't write fluff, so, all you fluff lovers, there you go.**

* * *

**Chapter 21: The Dance**

At dusk Kyoumi stood up from the campfire as clouds came in from the south. It looked like it was going to rain. Kyoumi turned to her friends and said, "I'm going to go for a walk."

She walked over to the river and jumped on a couple rocks getting across it easily. She turned around and looked at the water seeing a couple fish swim by. Kyoumi transformed into her water youkai form and made a ball of water with a couple minnows and a large fish inside it rise up to her eye level. They swam around and the large fish dared to jump out of the ball of water and landed safely in the river. Kyoumi dropped the water and returned to her normal youkai form.

Kyoumi walked away from the river and into a very small clearing with the rock in the middle of it, next to a large pond. How the river was so close to the pond, but how they never touched was a miracle, but Kyoumi didn't question it.

She sat on the rock and thought about her friends and what she was going to do once the whole Jewel was found when it started to rain.

Kyoumi didn't bother to change into her water youkai form again, she found it nice to sit in the rain, and she didn't want to ruin mother nature. Ever since she found out she could control elements of nature she found out what it does to help the world, and how it can destroy it. But she also figured out that she can't get in the way of mother nature, because the would would be in chaos if she did.

_Kagome is very nice, she cares a lot about her friends. Including me. I saw her face after I got hurt by Naraku,_ thought Kyoumi. _InuYasha is like a brother to me. He is so nice to me, but he doesn't seem as nice to other people. Heh. At least he doesn't treat me like his own brother. Sango is kind too. She seems to like Miroku, and he doesn't say much to me, but when he does speak it's usually either wise or perverted. Shippo is so cute! He seems pretty smart too, and looks up to Kagome. Kirara is to hard to understand... And Mitsu... I don't know! At first I didn't like him, but now... I'm not sure._ Kyoumi put her head in her hands and looked at the surface of the water never staying still because of the rain.

_I've been with these guys for about two months. I've made lifelong friendships with them, but why can't I figure out my relationship with Mitsu?_ Kyoumi asked herself.

Then she heard a rustle in the bushes and turned around as fast as she could. She sniffed the air and smelt... Mitsu?

Mitsu walked out from behind the bushes and smiled.

Kyoumi gave a weak smile and returned to looking at the surface of the water saying, "What are you doing here?"

"You've been out for a couple hours, and I was wondering if you had died," Mitsu said.

"Har har. Very funny," Kyoumi answered sarcastically.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Just thinking," answered Kyoumi. She continued to look at the surface of the water. It was still raining, so she couldn't see anything reflected off of it. Kyoumi transformed into her water youkai form and made the water still, looking at the reflection of the sky, but not being able to see anything but dark clouds.

"Why did you do that?" Mitsu asked as he walked over to the edge of the pond.

"I wanted to see the reflection. Some things you can't see if you look at it directly... Unfortunately, this was not one of those things," Kyoumi said, walking to the edge of the pond as well.

Mitsu put a foot above the water and Kyoumi smirked. Mitsu put his foot down slowly, as to make the water ripple, but when it hit the water, his foot didn't go under, but it stayed on top. He smiled and said, "Nice trick."

He turned to Kyoumi and held out his hand. "Care to dance?"

Kyoumi blushed and said, "I don't know how... Sorry."

"You don't need to know how. You just dance," Mitsu said, taking her hand and leading her out on top of the water. He put his hand around her waist and held her other hand and led her in a slow dance. The rain was their music, but the water beneath them didn't ripple or move at all.

"The others are probably watching us," muttered Kyoumi, blushing even more, but keeping her eyes locked on Mitsu.

"Let them. We watched Kagome and InuYasha, remember?" said Mitsu in a whisper.

Kyoumi gave a small laugh and beamed.

Mitsu spun Kyoumi, making her swirl water around them, but it never touched them. The only water that touched them was the rain.

Mitsu slowed even more and held Kyoumi closer, making Kyoumi's heart beat faster.

He then looked down at her and kissed her passionately on the lips.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, which in truth was only a half minute.

Mitsu came away from the kiss and said, "Now I must make my leave." He slowly walked away, disappearing into the forest, leaving Kyoumi to stand on the smooth water.

And Kyoumi could have sworn he heard Mitsu say, "Hi guys."

* * *

**I bet all you lovesick people loved that! Heh heh heh. Now I must edit the next chapter for you to read! Away! -runs to edit next chapter- angel61991 - Do you say anything other than 'interesting please update soon'? I'm just wondering.**


	22. Shikon no Tama

**Short chapter, but it keeps you in suspence. XD But I still love the last chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 22: Shikon no Tama /b**

Kyoumi walked back to camp well past midnight and sat down next to InuYasha, still stunned by what had happened. InuYasha opened an eye and smirked. "So, you're back. How was _your_ kiss?" asked InuYasha.

Kyoumi blinked and shrugged.

InuYasha was surprised by this answer. "Haven't you ever been kissed before?"

Kyoumi looked at him without turning her head and raised her eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah. OK... Well, you should get some rest," suggested InuYasha.

Kyoumi nodded and laid down and closed her eyes, going into a light sleep.

---

The morning brought more questions than answers to Kyoumi, but she threw them all in the fire, trying to forget about them and trying to figure out one main question. What was this new feeling of confusion and other strange emotions?

Kyoumi walked in a daze for most of that day, trying to figure out what happened.

Kohaku was still knocked out, having been hit over the head by InuYasha every time he woke up. Sango didn't like it, but agreed that it was the safest way to bring him with them, seeing as he may try and kill them under Naraku's influence.

"I sense another Jewel Shard," Kagome said as she started to walk faster.

Kyoumi ran as fast as she could, leaving the others behind. Mitsu followed her, making sure she wouldn't get hurt. Kagome, Shippo and InuYasha soon caught up, and Miroku, Sango, Kohaku and Kirara came behind them.

Kyoumi didn't know why she wanted to get to this Jewel Shard so badly. Was it because she smelled a familiar scent?

They soon came to a clearing similar to the one they met Sesshoumaru in and they saw a castle in the middle of the wasteland.

"I smell Naraku," Kyoumi said with venom in her voice, stopping a little ways from the forest edge. The only thing below her was dirt and bones, and across the war-stained land was only dead things, but a single golden flower in front of them. It had beautiful silver and gold colored petals and it shimmered in the light.

"It's sad that that is the only living thing here," Kagome said as they passed it and headed towards the castle.

---

"Naraku, they are here," said Kagura's voice in the darkness of the castle.

"Good. Let them get into the castle. I'll deal with them... You may stay in here unless I call you," said the horrible voice that was Naraku's. A single ray of light fell on his pale face with the redish-brown eyes. He had an evil smile and wore the usual kimono while in his human-like form.

_I wish he wouldn't treat me like a child! I wish I could just go away from here. I don't even like Naraku!_ thought Kagura as she walked off to some room in the castle.

"I will finally get rid of that wretched InuYasha and his friends. And I will get the last of the Jewel Shards to complete the Sacred Shikon Jewel. The Shikon no Tama," said Naraku to himself as he walked out of the room.

* * *

**Pay attention to that flower, loser.**


	23. The Golden Flower

**Chapter twenty three! There are a couple of surprises!**

* * *

**Chapter 23: The Golden Flower**

"This place seems to be filled of even more evil than any of Naraku's castles before," Miroku said as he walked in behind InuYasha.

"The more evil the better," Kyoumi said, looking especially angry.

No one had said a word to Kyoumi since they saw Naraku's castle because of the horrible gleam in her eye. A gleam of vengeance.

All eight of them (counting Kirara) looked ready for battle and wanted to get this over with. Shippo was on Kagome's shoulder and Kagome held her bow and arrow, and also sat on Kirara with Sango. Sango had her demon-slayer's outfit on and held her hiriakotsu, ready to kick some demon ass, and she had her little brother in front of her, knocked out. Miroku was next to Sango on the ground, and Mitsu was in his youkai wolf form. InuYasha had his Tetsusaiga out and transformed, and Kyoumi was in her fire youkai form with her sword out and lit up like a torch.

A figure walked through the castle door opposite them and walked out onto the grounds.

"Naraku!" InuYasha yelled in disgust. Naraku's hair was in a ponytail and was very matted and messy. Though it worked for someone so vile as him.

"Spare me the chat and fight!" yelled Naraku as he attacked him with the same tentacle-like limbs as he used to fight Kyoumi. Each of them jumped away, all of them going to different places.

Naraku smirked and said calmly, "Kagura, come here and fight the monk and demon-slayer."

In an instant Kagura came out on her feather and landed in front of the monk.

Sango landed on the roof with Kirara and Shippo and Kagome jumped off, dodging attacks from Naraku's limbs. Kagome pulled Kohaku off and told Shippo to protect him. Sango went to Miroku's aid and threw her hiriakotsu at Kagura. While Kagura blocked that with her Dance of Blades, Sango went down on Kirara and got Miroku on with her.

---

Kyoumi and InuYasha used similar techniques. They both ran towards Naraku, cutting off any of his limbs that came near them and jumping. They both came down to Naraku, but he blocked Kyoumi with a limb, but InuYasha hit him in the right side of his body.

Naraku pushed InuYasha to the ground and sent limbs towards him, aiming for his stomach.

Kyoumi threw balls of fire towards the limbs and they burned, and InuYasha got up.

A limb hit Kyoumi in the arm, cutting her and throwing her back. Mitsu came and bit the limb, cutting it off and he clawed at any other limb that came near Kyoumi.

Kyoumi sat on her knees and closed her eyes. _Please, let me use all my powers. Let me harness the power of nature, all at once! Oh, Kami, let me fight with nature in my hands!_ thought Kyoumi as she held onto her arm.

Kyoumi's eyes opened, but they were nothing but a glowing white.

Her kimono became silver and a light gold, and she gained armor made of white fire. Her eyes shone like golden diamonds and her hair and tail became so golden colored that it seemed to give off a glow.

Kyoumi smirked and thanked the gods and was able to use all of the elements at once. She made a bird out of thin air and covered it with fire and flew towards Naraku. The bird spit out fire at him, and he got burned badly, and she cut her claws through the air and sent blades of air and water towards Naraku. She fell on top of the roof next to Kagome and looked at her with a smile.

"Where is his part of the Jewel?" Kyoumi asked a bewildered Kagome.

She looked at Naraku and said, "There! Around his neck."

Kyoumi nodded and jumped to the ground and ran as fast as she could towards Naraku. She jumped and dodged anything that was sent her way with ease. She neared his Jewel piece and put out her hand to grab it and jumped.

Just as her hand clasped around the Jewel, a limb covered in fire went straight through her heart, making her falter. She landed on the other side of Naraku, not so gracefully this time, and held onto the Jewel piece she had just gotten with her life.

---

Kagome pulled back an arrow and let it go, and InuYasha sent out his Wind Scar at the same time.

They hit Naraku square in the chest and he started to vanish, like he was never there. His castle started to vanish, like it was just something of their imagination, and Kagura got sucked into Miroku's Wind Tunnel just before that closed up too.

Mitsu held Kyoumi tightly as she bled heavily.

"Kyoumi, it'll be OK. Don't worry," whispered Mitsu.

Everyone ran towards Kyoumi kneeling on the ground, and Mitsu next to her.

"What happened?" Miroku asked, kneeling down next to Mitsu.

"N- Naraku," muttered Kyoumi painfully.

Kagome sat down next to Kyoumi and looked at her sadly. Kyoumi turned her head to Kagome and hugged her tightly for someone so weak.

"Kagome," started Kyoumi in a whisper that only Kagome could hear, "I got the Shikon Jewel. You have to take it. I want to thank you. If you had never been unconscious in that forest that day, I probably never would have been able to experience being a demon, and now I'm not ashamed of what I am." Kyoumi's voice got softer with each word, and her breathing more labored.

"There is something that you have to tell Mitsu. Tell him... Tell him I love him. OK?" Kyoumi requested.

"You'll be able to tell him, Kyoumi," Kagome whispered back.

"Promise me."

"I- I promise."

"Take the Jewel," Kyoumi said as she put it in Kagome's hands. Right after she did that, her body went cold and her eyes became dull and gray, but her hair still shone like gold.

"Kyoumi?" Kagome asked, hoping to get an answer, but knowing it wouldn't come.

"Kyoumi..." whispered Mitsu as he took Kyoumi's body and lifted it up. He stood up and held Kyoumi's limp body in his arms, and closed his eyes.

As they went back to get to Kaede's village, they passed a flower in the wasteland that Naraku's last castle was on. The flower that was bright gold and silver.

Now it was wilted, never to grow again.

* * *

**Though Kyoumi is dead, this is not the last chapter. There are three more chapters, so keep checking here, OK? This chapter made me sad, even though I wrote it.**


	24. A Strand of Golden Hair

**This chapter is how I got the idea for the name of this fanfiction. It's not the longest chapter, but it's still sad.**

* * *

**Chapter 24: A Strand of Golden Hair**

Kagome stood next to the Bone-Eater's Well, holding the almost complete Sacred Shikon Jewel, her eyes red and puffy, and her cheeks red from crying. InuYasha stood in front of her, holding the last piece of the Jewel and looking grave.

"Sango took it out from Kohaku's body. He's living fine without it," InuYasha said, his voice sounding sad, but he was trying desperately to hide it. He handed the Jewel Shard to Kagome and she put it in the last piece of the Jewel in, and it glowed in her hand.

It had only been a day since Kyoumi's death, but the wounds were even deeper than the day before. Now that the shock was gone, it was even harder to deal with a friends' death.

"I told Mitsu," Kagome said, having told InuYasha already that Kyoumi loved him.

"How'd he take it?"

"Hard. But he could have taken it worse."

Kagome looked into InuYasha's eyes and a single tear fell down her cheek.

InuYasha grabbed her in a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"InuYasha... I want you to have the Jewel," said Kagome as she handed it to him after he let her go. "Use it for what you want. To become full youkai, human or whatever your heart desires."

Kagome put a foot on the well to jump in but InuYasha put a hand on her shoulder.

"But, you won't be able to get back here," complained InuYasha.

"That's the point," Kagome said sadly and she jumped into the well.

_Use it for what you want, InuYasha._

---

Kagome climbed out of the well and brushed her shirt off. Something fell to the floor that caught her eye.

She picked it up and looked at it carefully.

It was a strand of golden hair.

* * *

**That is also not the end of the fanfic. There are two more chapters. Oh, and I know that Kohaku would probably die without the jewel shard, but who cares? I'm writing this.**


	25. A Familiar Face

**I'm kinda mean to everyone, aren't I? That's my specialty.**

* * *

**Chapter 25: A Familiar Face**

Kagome wa

lked into her home and yelled out in a shaky voice, "M-mom! I-I'm h-h-home!"

Ms. Higurashi came into the front hall from the kitchen and saw her daughter's tear stricken face.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" said Kagome's mom as she rushed over to her daughter.

Kagome walked over to the couch and sat down, her mother following close behind. Kagome collapsed on the couch and she snuggled up to her mother who sat next to her. Kagome let the tears flow down her face and told her mother everything. Everything about Kyoumi and the Jewel. She spilled out her feelings, and how Kyoumi had told her last request to Kagome, and how she felt about that.

"Kyoumi lost her life to help defeat Naraku," said Kagome, her tears slowing down now. "No one deserves that. No one at all."

"She probably could accept death and she had a feeling that she was going to die, so she died happy. She died happy because you helped her, and became her friend. You are a beautiful young lady and can change people's lives. Never forget that," said Kagome's mom as she hugged her daughter tightly. "I'm going to go make some food, OK?"

Kagome nodded and huddled up on the couch, silently crying.

Sota walked into the house and put his backpack on the floor. "Kagome! You're back again! Wait, what's wrong?" asked Sota as he jumped onto the couch from the back.

"Kyoumi... died," Kagome said slowly, feeling like saying those words made her even more dead.

"What? She was so cool... I'm gonna go... to my room..." Sota said, not exactly knowing how to take this upsetting news.

Kagome sat on the couch for about an hour before there was a knock on the front door. She got up and slowly walked to the door and opened it.

A girl who was looking at the ground was standing at the door, her hair about waist length and midnight black that was put up in a ponytail. She was almost six feet tall and she had large feet. She wore a black sweater, and she had baggy blue jeans. Her eyes were wide and seemed to shine a little bit, and her hair seemed to glow in the sun.

"Um, I'm new here and, I, um..." said the girl shyly. She looked up into Kagome's eyes and said, "Are you all right? Did someone hurt you?"

"No, no. A friend just died recently... In fact..." Kagome said, looking into the girl's face. _She looked just like you!_ thought Kagome as she stared at the girl's face. _This girl must be Kyoumi's reincarnation!_

"I'm so sorry! What happened?" asked the girl. "Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Mai."

"An accident..." Kagome said, brightening up a little bit. She smiled slightly and said, "I'm Kagome."

"Kagome... That name sounds familiar... Anyway, um... I was wondering if you could visit me some time. Visit whenever you're in. I came over yesterday with my family, but your mom answered the door and said that she was the only one home at the moment, and she said that you were sick a lot. Anyway, come visit me whenever you aren't sick, OK? I live next door," Mai said and she waved and ran off to her home.

Kagome's smile stayed on for a little while and she went back to the couch, happy that Kyoumi's spirit lived on. Kagome fell asleep and awoke in the morning feeling a little bit better, but then someone came through the door.

It was InuYasha.

* * *

**Still more! What is InuYasha doing there? Well, you'll find out next chapter. Oh, and the thing with Sota… I didn't know how to make him react… So… Yeah...**


	26. Reliving the Past

**The last chapter. There may be a couple other chapters, more for laughs and maybe an epilouge. Like a weird little funny chapter that many people put in the beginning and end of chapters... I might even put in a preview for the next fanfiction with Kyoumi.**

* * *

**Chapter 26: Reliving the Past**

InuYasha walked over to Kagome and said urgently, "Please, come with me. Right now. I brought you the Jewel. Just come with me."

InuYasha put the Jewel in Kagome's hand. It now had a chain on it so she could wear it as a necklace, and it had a piece missing.

"Where is thi-- AHH!" started Kagome, but she was dragged outside by InuYasha. He brought her to the well and picked her up and dropped her in, and he jumped in himself.

They reached the Feudal Era soon enough and Kagome shook her head.

"I can't be here... It's too horrible," said Kagome through tears.

"Just come with me," InuYasha said, picking her up and jumping out of the well.

He ran to Kaede's Village and stopped in front of Kaede's house. InuYasha put Kagome down and made her face the door.

"Why did you bring me here?" Kagome asked.

"Just go in."

Kagome walked inside.

"Hello Kagome."

Kyoumi stood in front of her, a Shikon Jewel Shard in the back of her neck and her hair glowing gold like never before.

* * *

**I like happy endings, so that's why I did that. XD See, I'm a good person! I feel like there should be more... **

**Kyoumi: Next chapter, Lightning and Thunder! **

**Kay(me): Kyoumi, it's over. **

**Kyoumi: Wha--! **

**Kay: -sigh- you are such a loser. **

**Kyoumi: Well, I came from your mind! You made me this way, you socially inactive adolecent! **

**Kay: At least I know how to make friends without having to kidnap them! **

**Kyoumi: I was saving Kagome! **

**Kay: Whatever.**


	27. Epologue and Notes

Chapter 27: Epilogue and Notes

Kyoumi and Mitsu got a home in Kaede's village and lived peacefully, but it would be a while before Kyoumi got to take the Jewel Shard out of her neck, they had to make sure that she was going to live when they took it out. Kyoumi and Mitsu had two children, two girls. I won't say much more, because another Fanfic may be on the way.

Sango and Miroku got married and her brother and her went out often enough to get decent money. Once Miroku settled down and had a few children of his own, two boys and one girl, he became less lecherous to other women, and just looked to Sango.

Once Kagome became older, InuYasha and she had two children, boy and girl, they lived in the present time and Feudal Era, but decided that they would stay in the present most of the time to raise their children.

Shippo found another fox demon to be with and fell in love with her, having 7 cute and annoying children that seemed to like to pick on InuYasha. Well, he is a fox demon, so they could have that many children... oO;

Mai became one of Kagome's best friends in the present time.

Shippo wasn't used much in the story, as well as Miroku and Sango... Sesshoumaru played no important role in the story at all... I just brought him in the story because I felt like it. XD It was fun. The same with Kouga. Except for the Jewel Shards... And Tamashi was a friend's character that she wanted in here, and there was two more, but I couldn't figure out where to put them. Heh... --; I don't like Kikyo that much, so she wasn't in there, and she would have served no purpose…

Now I just need to figure out another FanFic so I can write some more... oO;

**Special Thanks**: My 'fans'... That's the only word that seems to fit. Or you could call yourselves the people who reviewed. Even if you only reviewed once, you're on here, so feel the LOVE! **zariena** - I'm glad I made you feel... Um... Jelous? That you couldn't make this story? Maybe? **icygirl2** - I have no idea what to say about your review, but I'm glad you did review. **Ear-Tweak** - Same as icygirl2, but thanks for reviewing. **UdUnNoMe** - oO; I have no idea what to say to you. But thanks for reading... The first three chapters... --; **suppup17** - I'm glad someone else finishes their fanfictions before putting them up! **angel61991** - I could always count on your answers being exactly the same, and I could always count on you reading each chapter. You know what you are? Interesting, please update soon. xD **Maid of the Mer** - That muffin was good... xD **Maki Totakiyami** - Man, that's a hard name to write. oO; I'm so happy that you kept reviewing and reading. But now I have a request... ADD A CHAPTER TO YOUR FANFICTIONS! xD **Reina no Taisho** - Holy crap. I didn't realize that you gave that award to me until now. oo; I feel special! Thanks! Disclaimer - The only characters I own are the ones that do not appear in the series, mainly Kyoumi and Mitsu. That's it. That Takashamaisea or whatever wolf demon isn't mine either. It's a friend's. Look out for my next fanfiction, a story about two best friends who somehow land themselves in feudal Japan. See a full summary in my user lookup/setup/whatever. 


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